Thunder Blue
by Bligthe
Summary: "Yer not gonna waste yer arrows tryin' get me, again, are ya?"The blue demon smiled devilishly. I shuddered. "Depends, are you going to try and eat me, again?" He lets out a bodacious roar of laughter."That depends on yer definition of 'eat', kitten."
1. The Storm

**Summary: **"Yer not gonna waste your arrows tryin' get me, again, are ya?"The blue demon smiled devilishly. I shuddered. "Depends, are you going to try and eat me, again?" He lets out a loud, bodacious roar of laughter. "Well, that depends on yer definition of 'eat', kitten."

**Warnings:** AU. Smut later on. Graphic Language. Violence. Noticeable OCCness. Some angst here and there. Cliché nicknames. Errors here and there too.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. Not bleach. Not its characters. NOTHING! (So much sadness.)

**Author's notes: **This idea just came at me out of nowhere. I started to think what would it be like if things were switched up a bit. And it all went...well, everywhere from there. Please bear with me and my retarded plot bunnies ;A;

**Time:** Edo Period/**Setting:** Karakura Japan

**Hueco Mundo**- Heaven (_dafuq?_)

**Soul Society**- a yakuza group in Karakura Village.

**Urahara Shop**- Karakura's nearest and local medical clinic.

**Kurosaki Apothecary**- Family of herbal specialists who live on the outskirts of Karakura Village.

**Forest of Menosu**- (Menos) A dark forest where the Kurosaki's mainly retrieve their herbs. Supposedly haunted and filled with yokai and other evil spirits.

* * *

**Thunder Blue**

**I. The Storm**

How long will it last, this storm of seemingly never-ending tears, howls of the wind, and blue flashes of anger? It feels like it'll go on forever. It has been for the past week now. Is it a monsoon perhaps? The fortune teller, Ikumi Unagiya, said that it'll rain for a short period of time. But what exactly is her definition of short?

"Oh my," Yuzu gasped in awe. "It's starting to flood down there." She was perched up on the window sill, her arms supporting her tiny weight as she brought herself up to see down below the hill that our house was built upon.

I joined her to look out the window, only a brief moment to see the rainwater flood the fields of long-grass down below, before a flash of steel blue floods my vision, blinding me. I blink away, rubbing my inflicted eyes.

"Damn it." I cussed. "No way am I going out there again tonight."

"It's definitely a bad week." Karin, Yuzu's twin, comments as she rearranged the assorted herbs into their assigned cabinets. "This storm is causing us a lot of trouble. Floods. Bad herbal hunting conditions. And thunderstorm victims." She slams a drawer shut rather loudly. "We're running out of healing and soothing herbs for burns just from Urahara's demands. "

I shrugged. "Well, what can we do other than wait out the storm or until it lightens up enough for me to go and search for more."

"Oh Ichigo!" Isshin cried. "I can't let my only beloved son to go out into the scary, evil, spooky-"

"Shut up old man." Karin huffed. "If not him, you'll go!"

"Good luck my beloved son! I love you!" Isshin blew kisses at me.

I scowled and kicked his shins. "Stupid goat face. I'm not going yet."

But soon, I'll have no choice. We're running out of money to buy food, and we'll need the herbs to sell them to Urahara and other medical clinics. Plus, we're nearly out of our last batch of wild leeks, bamboo shoots, and other wild plants we gather from the forest to eat. Damn it all. If this really is a monsoon, one that might go on for weeks and weeks, I'm going wreck havoc on Ikumi's fortune telling business. _'Short period of time' my ass. _As the thunder rolled on and on, I began to doubt that this storm would even lighten up an inch.

Hours later, until it reached the start of the afternoon, it continued to pour and pour. Yuzu kneel down the spot where the dog, Kon, was curled up in a ball, whimpering and shivering closer to Yuzu. I sighed. Another downside. Kon was our scouter, the one who both finds and digs up grounded roots or herbs. He was also a wuss when it came to thunderstorms. If he wasn't capable of helping hunt for herbs this time, then I guess I'll have to search for whatever I could find in this disastrous weather.

I stood up from my seat on the floored cushion, Yuzu reacting the same and jumped flat on her feet.

"You're really going to go?" Yuzu's voice quivered.

"Yeah." I answered, my voice bleak.

"Take the arrows." Karin's voice was solid and flat. "The blade too."

She had a good reason why to tell me to arm myself. At night-time or storms like this, the forest becomes restless, full of anxious beast...and whatever else is said to be out there. The Forest of Menosu had taken many lives before, though it was only when one would venture too far within the forest. It was a rare case that someone would go missing from just venturing the brim of the forest. Rare cases such like my mothers.

Before sinking any further in my thoughts, I shook my head lightly. I did what I was advise and strapped the quiver full of arrows over my shoulder and across my chest, then belted the sheathed blade around my waist. Lastly, I hooked the wooden bow through my arm and rested it over my shoulder. I equipped myself with other necessary things, such as a lantern, a match, a small oil gourd, and the herb sack. Before leaving, I kissed both of my younger sisters foreheads, and saluted the old man. Kon was in the slanted passage under the shelves, too far under for me to be able to reach and say a 'see ya, wuss'.

I let out an irritated sigh before slipping the hooded rain cloak over the bright orange mess I call my hair and started out to the forest under the relentless rain. The ground was left incredibly soaked with water, my zori sandals already sinking into the swamp-like terrain the second I let my foot down. I picked up the pace towards the forest, hoping that with all the trees, the roots will provide me a more solid ground took walk around in. It didn't take long to arrive (considering that we literally live twenty yards from the forest) and my feet had already descended upon the safety of the much more solid dirt. It was still a bit slippery, and my feet did sink in a bit if I kept them in one place for a bit too long, but it was a huge improvement compare to the new forming swamp out there.

I took a moment to study my surroundings. It was dark, no surprise there. Rain trickled down the leaves at a steady pace, dribbling everywhere, that including over my head and down my neck. I immediately set the lantern on and placed my unoccupied hand on the hilt of the blade. The forest echoed with the sound of thunder, rain, and distant howls of an unidentified animal. Or creature.

I took slow and wary steps, kept my breath as quite as possible, and kept watch of both the plants we need and creatures I don't want to meet. Lucky for me, it didn't take very long. Minutes later I had a varieties of plants like Safflower, clematis, udo(for Yuzu to make miso soup later), artemisia, and three-leaf akebia. I was also able to discover a bee's nest, and from where I stood on the ground, I could see a few bees clinging too certain areas of the comb. No doubt its full of honey. And right now, such a thing was essential from having so many lightning strike victims suffering from a variety of burns. But now wasn't the time to raid a bee's honey-nest. I was alone, the tree was slick from the rainwater, and I couldn't try and sedate the bees with smoke in this weather's condition. Japanese honeybees aren't something to mess with when unprepared.

I noted the position of the bee's nest for next time, when the conditions are right, and went along with the herb gathering. Aside from the startling thunder and lightning, things were going quite well. Though, I still kept my guard up. Good thing too. Because if I wasn't so wary, I would've missed the glowing pair of jewels in the distance. I paused, heart skipping. _Jewels? Glowing?_ And blue. _Really blue._

I swallowed and held the lantern higher so I could give myself more light to see in. The jewels decreased in size as I did that. No, they didn't decrease. They squinted. Fucking squinted. They're not jewels, of course they're not jewels, their _eyes_! Forget skipping, my heart was now stuck in my throat, blocking the scream clogged in my chest. My eyes widened, my mouth agape and dry as the eyes drew closer. I was frozen, completely iced there as the unknown creature made its slow approach towards me. My knees locked under me, probably the only reason I was still standing.

"What are ya staring at?" A voice rumbled.

That voice snapped me from my state of shock. A voice so dark and animalistic, but then again husky and deep. From that state of shock, I almost went to a state of arousal, and nearly shuddered in delight at the sound of such a sexy thing. Almost. It's realization that keeps me in reality. Realization that it's the creature's voice. And just as the discovery hits me, so does the presence of the voice's creator.

Alabaster white fur with pristine black stripes streaked across it's whole body, a particular thick black band around its neck seemingly similar to a collar. And it's eyes. Oh heaven, those eyes were so beautiful. It's eyes were so blue, so clear and bright that it would shame a summer's sky. And the striking black framing those luminous orbs just seemed to sharpened the effects of those eyes. A cat? Can't be. It's too large. Some type of mountain cat then?

"Did ya hear me, or not?" It growled a again, for the second time, bringing me back to the present situation. "What the hell is with yer eyes?" It snapped out, it's jaws exposing a brief show of gleaming white and absolute sharp teeth. "What are ya staring at?"

Yokai. Demon.

With out a moment's more hesitation, I reached for my bow, loaded the arrow, aimed and shoot. Once that arrow left my bow, I fled. I didn't even look back and check to see if I hit my target. At this moment, it wasn't even worth my life to briefly turn my head and risk either slowing down or tripping on a surfacing root or whatever. But sure enough, there was an infuriated roar behind me followed by a blinding blue flash. Tiny dots spotted the side of my eyes as I stumbled blindly between the trees.

"Oh shit." I panted hysterically. "Ohsitohshitohshitohshit!"

Adrenaline burns through my system. Everything inside me is convulsing. My abdominal muscles clench in protest and my stomach is churning as if I'm going to start vomiting all over the place. It felt like I was taking forever to get to the edge of the forest. How deep did I go? I thought I stayed at the brim.

Light.

It was faint, but from the distance, I could see it. That faint, gray light of the stormy afternoon. If I pass that, then maybe I'm home free. Maybe. Oh god, how I hope so. But then, what if I wasn't? What should I do then? Lead it to town? Maybe there's an exorcist or a monk. Chances of that, maybe.

Just then, something hooks my ankle. The air is knocked out from my lungs as the muddy floor meets my chest. Mud smears my face and almost automatically, I bring myself half way up to wipe my face and continue running for my life. That particular roar reverberates through out the forest, now closer. No, here. Just as the lightening blinds me, I'm forced back onto the mushy ground, my back pressed deep in the soft earth and thick roots and my face three inches away from the demon's.

My heart is beating so fast, my pulse rushing through out my bloodstream, pounding so loud in my ears that I could hardly hear the rain. I'm panting like a madman, my lungs are aching and nearing to collapse upon themselves. I could see my panic expression in it's illuminating blue eyes, my mocha ones moon-wide with hysteria, mouth slightly agape as I pant harshly, orange hair barely seen through the matting dirt. The beast huffs against my face, breathe fresh of blood, and it exposes rows of ivory white teeth.

"I was gonna tear ya up and leave ya outside of the forest for yer family ta find ya. Or maybe even burn ya up a little, perhaps give ya a little brain damage as a gift too." It inhaled a roughly long and deep sniff of my neck. "But I changed my mind." The demon sneers. "I'll eat ya up instead, kitten."

Anger flood through me, flushing out the fear and horror. Kitten? Kitten! I scowled at his glimmering expression. I paid no attention to the flash of shock on his beastly face. I just jabbed his solar plexus with the hilt of my blade. He yowls, and I immediately shoved his heavy body off of mine. I don't hesitate to break-out into another sprint towards the exit of the forest again. Yes, I'm still angry, maybe not even afraid of the dastardly yokai anymore. But I must stay rational. I'm not going to challenge a possibly high-level yokai all alone (even though I might have already done that) just because of my bruised ego.

Finally, I make it out of the forest. But I don't even stop there. I don't know if the demon does rely on the forest's security and concealment. But I'm not taking anymore chances. I had enough for one day. I continue running towards home, sometimes pausing for a second to check for a streak or spot of blue or white. Nothing but green, gray, and brown. But I don't stop running.

By the time I'm home, from the waist down I drenched in wet earth, everything of my outfit in soaked with pure rain water. I'm shivering as my body convulses for heat. Yuzu's half panicking half furious when she sees me. Karin and Isshin retrieve dry clothes and towels to help dry me down as I convulse on the damp verandah with Yuzu warming my hands and feet. I give out one sentence before I knock out unconscious that night.

"No more storm herb hunting." I grumble and nuzzle against Yuzu's shoulder.

* * *

I know. I know. It's short ;A;

And I know there's some grammatical and spelling errors somewhere in there, but it's so late, and I'm so tired, and I just wanna go to sleep man.

I'll update this often, possible weekly. Grimmjow will be in Chapter three. Me no talky a lot about Chapter two or three. Sorry.

Character in next chapter: Youroichi, Urahara, Jinta, Ururu, Orihime, Uryu , Chad, Tatsuki, Ryuken Ishida, Shinji, Kensei, Renji, Hisagi, Ikkaku, Zenpachi.


	2. Menosu Mystery

**Author's Notes:**This is the earliest update I have done in my entire life! :D Seriously, I haven't put this much effort into something like this since...kindergarten? Idk. Anyways, plot bunnies didn't let me get enough sleep last night. They've been raiding my mind with events of how this should go down. Thank goodness, because as soon as I started typing this story, I thought I was going to have to wing-it. But now, thanks to the plot bunnies, this story has a script to go by :3 Now enough about me. Onto the story now~

* * *

**II. Menosu Mystery**

"A yokai you say?" Uryu hummed in that "I'm better than you" tone.

I rolled my eyes. "Noooo, it was a butterfly. Of course it was a yokai! No other beast out there looks anything like it!"

"Could be an albino forest cat." Chad offered the idea.

I scoffed. " Chances of that happening are slim, Chad. And can albino forest cats talk?"

He just shrugged his shoulders and continued walking me off to Urahara's Clinic. I don't know why he offered to be an escort when he was on the job being a body guard for the Ishida Clinic. Plus, the town's people still give him awkward and curious looks, even though he's lived in Karakura for ten years. Originally, he was a foreigner, brought here by his grandfather who ran the business of selling foreign goods. But a few years after his arrival, Chad's grandfather suddenly grew ill and passed away. Instead of returning to his homeland, Chad decided to stay. Uryu gave Chad a job offer at his father's clinic as a body guard, to prevent people from stealing medicine and such.

And for Uryu, being the son of one of the most successful medical clinics in all of Karakura Village (Urahara second), he is set and lives a fairly care-free life wasting his days away acting like a pompous, arrogant, self-righteous bastard. Well, from what I can see.

Thank goodness it stopped raining yesterday. If it hadn't, I would have to swim through the flood just to get to town. Everything was still damp from the storm. Our zori sandals sank in the mud at each step, Uryu complaining behind us about his tabi socks. We've finally arrived to the Urahara Clinic, but my two 'escorts' still bothered to stay behind me. Before I could even knock the door slid open, revealing an obviously agitated and overwhelmed Yoruichi.

Her golden eyes narrowed upon me. "You better be here with the goods or I'll-"

"I have them! I have them!" I held up my hands defensively, herb sack in one hand.

She raises an eyebrow. "No honey?"

"Ran out." I said.

She grabs the sack from my hand and opens it to analyze its contents. "That's all?" She grumbles.

"We were forced to ration due to the unpredictable duration of the storm." I explained. "But we'll restock today. At most, by the end of the week, our stocks will return to normal and you'll have all the herbs you need, Yoruichi-san."

"That's what you told my father." Uryu snide.

I elbowed his gut. "It's the truth. Am I not allowed to tell them all the same truth?"

Uryu didn't reply but gave a particular click of his tongue expressing his annoyance. I turned my attention back to Yoruichi. She was giving the sack a hard look, deep in thought. She then hung the sack over her shoulder and nodded. "Very well, I will await for the next supply. We'll be expecting quality, Ichigo."

"Yes Yoruichi-san." I said.

"Wait! Yoru-chan, hold up! Don't close it yet!" Urahara stumbled towards the door, literally squishing the purple-haired woman out of the doorway and back into the clinic shelter. "Ichigo! My boy! How wonderful to see you!"

I scowled at Urahara's overwhelmingly bright aura. That man was always a little too happy every time I saw him. For reasons I either don't know or that shouldn't be held up in a positive way.

"Hey, Urahara." I nodded my head in recognition.

"That's all I get? Hmmm?" He shrugs. " All well, that doesn't really matter now, does it? I just came here to warn you."

"Warn me?"

"About the forest of Menosu." My insides clamped up. "The patients we've been receiving are all victims of burns, lacerations from bites of some kind of animal. And possibly brain damage, but we're not to sure if its trauma or not. All of the victims who are capable of speaking all tell us that there's something in the forest that done that to them. Some of them say it's a yokai."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. What were they doing in the forest in the first place? Hardly anyone goes into the forest unless they're looking for herbs like my family. And with this many people who were victims of the creature of that forest, I highly doubt they were looking for herbs.

"Guess you were right Ichigo." Chad said.

Urahara's eye widened slightly. "You know of this creature?"

I fidgeted. "Well, not exactly. Umm...you could say that I may have... came into contact with it by accident."

"Well, that's just wonderful." A voice drawled. Urahara stepped off to the side a bit, scooting so that there was enough space to pass through the doorway, revealing a familiar figure. Two to be exact. Shinji Hirako and Kensei Muguruma, the local law enforcers of Karakura Village. "I'd be glad ta get the information on the attacks within the Menosu from someone who I dun suspect ta be delusional. I'm expectin' ya to remember and give me a clear description of the event."

Remembering the events of the day before yesterday was the last thing I wanted to do. Just thinking about it had my gut doing back-flips and my throat constrict itself. I just wanted to forget that encounter. Never in my life do I want to see that pristine white coat adorned with slate black stripes. Nor do I ever want to see those pure, glowing bright blue eyes. I don't even want to hear that rough, baritone voice, that seemed as deep as the rumbling thunderstorm that night.

"_I'll eat ya up instead, Kitten."_

I flushed. _What am I doing? _Do I find that beast attractive? Do I? Oh goodness, how wrong that would be. It's bestiality for goodness sakes. Is it? He's a demon, right? It's possible for it to shift into the form of a human. Then would it still be wrong? I shook my head. No! It's wrong! Plus, he tried to eat me!

"Oi, Ichi boy." Kensei called. "You alright there? You seem a little feverish."

I cover the bottom-half of my face and avoided eye contact, hoping that it would prevent me from embarrassing myself any further. "I'm alright."

"Sure." Shinji said. " Ya saw this supposed 'creature' right?"

"You don't think it's a yokai?" Chad said, a bit curious.

" 'Course not. Bullshit like that dun exist."

Kensei snorted. " Obviously, Shinji-sama isn't a very supernatural person."

"Shaddup." Shinji mumbled. "Come on. We're goin' back ta our 'HQ'. We'll ask ya simple questions. All there is ta it, 'kay?"

I shrugged. "Simple enough."

_-1 hour later-_

Okay, maybe it wasn't all so simple enough. What was suppose to be a simple questioning turned into this full-scale interrogation. Shinji first asked a simple question; "So what really happened?" and I told him exactly what happened. He repeated the question about three times, each time he changed the words of the question to be a bit more specific. But each time, I gave him the same answer, the same story and every bit of it's embarrassing detail. Then it went all downhill from there. He shouted at me, hollering at me on how was he suppose to believe that kind of 'bull'. I shouted back, and then he did too, and then it became a yelling game of ping-pong*****. Kensei just stood there in the sidelines, peeling and cutting an apple with his dagger.

Finally Shinji gives one last loud statement before leaving: "Ya think this is some kinda sick, funny joke? Eh? People are gettin' hurt out there boy. A lot of people died too. If this is all a joke just ta have fun with, then I'd suggest ya get yer useless ass outta here. I'm done here!" And left with a dramatic slam of the shoji door.

I sighed, laying flat on the woven mat on the floor. For a moment, I had forget Kensei's presence until I heard him chomping on his slice of apple with an open mouth.

"Don't mind Shinji." Kensei advised. "He's a bit heated from questioning those victims earlier, and being all narrow-minded and stubborn, his temper ran out fast."

"Kensei, sir, may I ask you something about those victims?" I asked.

"Shoot kid." He started chomping on another apple.

"All those people who were attacked...what were they doing at the Forest of Menosu?"

"Hunting." He puts out simply.

"Hunting?" That may have been the reason why I was attacked too. Perhaps the demon distastes being hunted by humans. Who wouldn't. But the thing was, I wasn't hunting for it, I was gathering herbs and surfaced roots.

"Yeah, hunting for that yokai everyone has been mentioning. Farmers of Karakura say it's been frying their livestock and crops."

"So this wasn't something suddenly decided by the towns people." I mumbled to myself.

Kensei caught what I said. "Of course not." He furrowed his brows. "What? You think the town's people are a group of bumbling idiots who would go and hunt a demon for no absolute reason?"

There were actually some people like that. Psychos who would hunt a demon to have it's head as a trophy.

"Ichigo." Kensei called. "I would advise you to stay out of that forest for now. Daylight, bright light, whatever. Even staying at the brim of the forest seems to dangerous for right now."

I frowned. "But we need herbs for the clinics' requests. That forest provides us a large variety of the herbs the village needs. It's the only forest that does."

"Sorry boy. It's only temporary, until we can find a exorcist to do something about it."

I scowled. "I thought Shinji wasn't a supernatural believer."

"That's just Shinji. And we must do everything we can to try and help the village." Kensei lets out a ragged sigh. "But right now, we have our hands full with those damn yakuza's."

"The Soul Society?"

Kensei snorts. "Yeah, them. Bastards are causing just as much trouble as that thing in the forest. With our hands full trying to keep them at bay, we can't get rid of the yokai."

Soul Society, as explained earlier by Kensei, is a yakuzu group inhabiting Karakura Village. They deal with things like drugs and weapons. We, being a medium-size village, are barely able to handle the group and can only bring ourselves to a stalemate between us and them. The member of the Soul Society are a bunch of arrogant weaklings who would usually pick on the village youngsters or hang around the whore house in the next village. They are hardly ever here, and when they are, they just bring trouble and mischief. Now, the boss of the Soul Society is a whole other story. Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. Scariest old man I have ever met in my entire life. His co-leaders were also something not to mess with. Soul Society were also very territorial, killed anyone that would attempt to attack their base.

Just then, something clicked. "What if I told you that you might be able to get rid of that problem?"

"I'm listening." Kensei said, finishing the last of his apple.

"We both know how territorial the Soul Society is, right? We'll hint them that a large group of bandits in the Forest of Menosu are planning to raid the village. We can't directly tell them this, or else they'll think it's a trap. Hopefully, the Soul Society will go into the forest and stumble upon the yokai like I did. The yokai will think that the Soul Society members are trying to hunt him too, therefore, leading him to attack them. In the end, either will be defeated. Or maybe both of them will die in the process. It's a win-win."

"Yeah, but I don't think the Soul Society will send in every one into the forest." Kensei doubts.

"They will if one after another of the volunteers come up missing or half-dead." I gave him a mischievous smile.

"Ichigo boy, you devil." He laughed joyously. " A smart plan like that, I might end up thinking you're a yokai yourself!"

My smile falters. "Don't joke like that, sir."

He's still laughing like he came across a victorious battle.

I don't know why, but there's a feeling of guilt somewhere in me. Guilt. Worry. Maybe fear too. But why guilt? I shouldn't feel so bad. The thing tried to eat me! It also called me some pathetic, cute, grotesque nickname._ Of all things, kitten? _But even in my moment of anger, I couldn't ignore the guilt I felt. Then I start wondering, is this really a good idea? For who knows, the yokai might not be a yokai at all. Maybe a benevolent animal spirit that's injured in some way and is acting like that because it's on the defensive side. It's probably scared too.

_"I'll eat ya up instead, Kitten."_

_Fuckin' shit. _

* * *

***- Did they have ping-pong in the edo period? If not, I'm sorry ;A;**

**Okay, maybe I lied about the whole character appearance thing. I couldn't fit them all in this chapter. But guess what? GRIMMJOW'S IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! :3 But sadly, no smut yet. Yet. Yet. Idk when it's coming. Really. I don't know.**


	3. Bleached Bones & Blue Demon

**Author's Notes:**ASDFGHJKL; I had a hard time making up the title for this chapter. It sounds ridiculous to me, no matter which title I make up. Blehgh. Let me huddle in the corner and cry as I choke on nutella. Oh gawd, this chapter took so long to write too. Describing Grimmjow was the most difficult part. It's so frustrating to find the right words to describe that man. I'm still not satisfied with how I described his character too. Ashfljbsdlghbf! Anyways! Enjoy!

* * *

**III. Bleached Bones & Blue Demon**

"So they're finally going to do something about the problems in the forest?" Karin asks, obviously doubting what I had told her was true.

"Not the soul problem. Just that certain one." I told her.

"You mean that demon who attempted to 'eat you up'?" Karin snickers.

Blush bloomed across my cheeks. "Karin! Don't say it like that!" But she's still snickering at me, that lecherous leer in her eyes.

"Like what, Ichi-nii?" Yuzu chimes.

"Yeahh, Ichi-nii. Like what?" Karin teases, but Yuzu tilts her head, oblivious to everything.

"N-Nothing!" I stuttered. "Karin, how about you organize the cabinets for later after we get more herbs."

Her teasing stops. "You're going back out there?"

Yuzu's confused expression is replaced by a crest-fallen one. I could just see the tears welling up as I knew she would start bawling.

"Not alone." I inform them. "I'm going with dad and Kon of course. Tatsuki and Orihime are coming later to look after you guys."

"Oh god no." Karin shudders. "Please tell me she won't be cooking dinner."

I stuck out my tongue. "Course not. Yuzu's already prepared the miso soup. But they'll be staying for dinner."

I started to prepare from our gathering later on. Isshin was just outside making sure Kon has finished doing his business so that when he goes in the forest, he won't have to pee and attract territorial animals with his urine. Once he was finished, Isshin came inside and armed himself with a katana, I did the same as well with my own weapons. You could never be too prepared. I also packed the lantern, matches, and the plants to sedate the honeybees later.

"Kurosaki-kun!" A loud, but bubbly voice calls from the outside. I slid the door open and peeked out to see Orihime running up hill, stumbling here and there, with Tatsuki not too far behind her. "Kurosaki-kun!"

"Hey Orihime." I greeted. Tatsuki was finally able to catch up to her pace. "Hey Tatsuki."

"Ichigo."She said briefly in order to stop and catch her breath along with Orihime and her overly-exaggerated ones.

"We brought some taro as a 'coming-over to your house' gift!" Orihime beamed once she was done catching her breathe.

"Oh!" Yuzu squeaked. "Thank you so much! I can make taro rice cakes with this!"

"You're welcome!" Orihime continued to beam.

"So Ichigo." Tatsuki called to my attention. "I heard about you and the Menosu." Fuckin' Uryu Ishida doesn't know how to keep that gossiping blabber mouth of his shut. "Are you some kind of idiot? Don't you think after hearing that warning from _both _Urahara and Kensei, you would have known not to go to the forest? Especially now, with the Soul Society getting themselves involved."

"So they did take the bait, huh?" I tried to smile.

"Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime trailed off.

Tatsuki gave an frustrated groan. "Ichigo, that's not what I'm trying to say! Everything right now obviously points out that things won't go well for you if you go out there right now!"

Isshin gave Tatsuki a wave of dismissal. "Your worries are unnecessary little one. Me and Ichigo will only scan the edge of the forest from the outside. We won't even take one step inside. Besides, if something does attack us, Papa will save the day!"

Karin jabbed Isshin in his gut. "The only one who would probably do the saving is Ichi-nii. Remember when you met that rabid red panda. Yeah, who saved you that time?"

I sighed. "Really, you guys don't have to worry. We're armed, and like my dad said, we're taking precautions and we won't enter the forest."

Tatsuki was giving a hard, long look as if she meant to drill a hole in my skull with just her eyes. She then gave a depressed sigh, like she just gave up. "You guys better not miss dinner."

"Yeah, we won't." Isshin winked, Kon following it with a high-pitched bark.

Karin slapped the back of Isshin's head.

"Kurosaki!" A male called out in a sing-song tone. "Kurosaki~!"

Kon went ballistic and skittered out on the verandah to bark at the trespassers. Me, Tatsuki, and Isshin followed after him. I scowled. The members of the Soul Society. Renji, Hisagi, Ikkaku, and their co-leader, Kenpachi. They were a very distinct group, the particular members that everyone in town knew because of their behavior.

"What the hell do you want?" Tatsuki snapped.

"Shut up, punk." Kenpachi snapped harshly. Tatsuki looked as if she was dying to attack him with some type of viscous come-back, though she was wise enough not to do so and kept her mouth shut, but she kept her burning glare on him. "We're here for the Kurosaki boy."

My fists clenched. "Pardon? What do you need me for?"

"As a guide." Hisagi answered, boredom surfacing in his voice.

"If you're either too blind or stupid to notice, the forest is past here." Tatsuki pointed off in the distance in the forest's direction.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Plus, we're not guides. We're apothecaries."

"So?" Renji spat. I wrinkled my nose at him in disgust and resisted the urge to jump him and rip of that damn pony-tail. "I heard you know where it is."

"Where what is?" I was too confused at this to snap back at him.

"From the lens faggot." Uryu, that bastard, I'm going to murder him. "He said you saw them."

"At least he didn't give away the plan." Tatsuki mumble too quietly for them to hear.

"Even if I did, they might have retreated too far into the forest after being see by me." I replied.

"Look, enough of the bull." Kenpachi stepped in. "I know one of you are 'well acquainted' with the forest." What the fuck does he mean by that? "And we need someone to bring us to it's heart. No questioning now. So I'll either ask you nicely right now, or I'll have to drag you by force. And trust me bastards, you're not gonna like it."

I clenched my jaw. I hardly know how navigate through the edge of the forest, what makes him think that I'll be able to navigate them into the _heart _of it? Plus, if either me or my dad go, we'll just get dragged down with them. Fuck it all.

Isshin placed a warm hand over my shoulder and squeezed lightly. He was beaming, as if tempting me to swipe that ridiculous grin off his face with a punch. Why, of all times, is he grinning like that?

"We'll lead you!" _What now?_

"Dad!" I hissed in time with Yuzu and Karin.

Tatsuki just stared at the old man like she wanted to punch him like I wanted to. And Orihime's face was preoccupied with a frown and a bun that Yuzu must have given her earlier.

Isshin gave us a wave of dismissal. "Don't worry kiddos. Back then, I used to be guide of the forest who lead people into the forest's shrine before the shrine's god abandoned it."

And why have we never heard of this before, we all must be wondering. Because no doubt that thought is rampaging through my head.

"Very well, you will guide us." Kenpachi ordered.

"My son and my dog are coming along as well though." Isshin said.

I gave him a skeptical look. What is he planning?

"Why?" Renji narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"We were planning to gather some herbs before you all came here with your offer. I plan on carrying on with the schedule as we lead you. Don't worry, we're fast with our work."

"Fine." Kenpachi seemed to not worry about Isshin's request and didn't bother to give it a second thought.

"Good!" Isshin beamed again. "Let's go now then!"

He jumped down the porch, me following after him. I gave Yuzu and Karin a quick peck on the forehead and wave the rest of them good-bye. Heaven knows if it's the last one with the way things are going. I glared at the back of Isshin's head as I led Kon to follow us.

"I hope you know what you're getting us into, Old-man." I grumbled at him.

"Don't worry, I got a plan." He whispered.

"Mind telling me now before it's too late?"

"We're going to ditch them half-way into the forest." He explained. "You know the bee's hive we were planning to harvest from. We'll trigger it without sedating them, and run like hell. Simple right?"

Yeah, seemed so. But things lately haven't been so simple as it were suppose to be. Soon we reached the forest's edge. Isshin prepared the lantern and lead us into the forest first, me second, and the rest of the group behind us. I place my bow in my hand and loaded an arrow, just in case. The forest was shaded as usual, and without the rain, it smelled of fresh moss and musty logs. Behind us, Renji and Ikkaku were blabbering and laughing about something they've done at some whore house, and I had to clamp my mouth shut just so I wouldn't yell at them to keep their filthy mouths shut.

Kon pawed around, digging up herbs we trained him to dig up. When we grew closer towards the hive, I started to take on the lead, me and father whispering to each other the details of our plan. Though Kenpachi and his group were about one yard away, we assumed they were unable to catch on to our secret plot. The hive's tree was not too far now, about four yards I would guess.

"Ready son?" Isshin whispered.

I nodded.

"Hey, Strawberry!" Pure anger surged through me. My fingers grasped the bow tighter, on the other hand, my fingers clenched the arrow's feathered notch to the point where the feathers bent and wrinkled. "Ikkaku here says with a face like that, you'd do well in a brothel*****!"

What was left of the feathered notch crumple to the ground. My jaws tightened, and my heart constricted with contained rage. If this guy keeps talking, I'll castrate him and leave him there for his buddy to deal with. But of course, I can't do that. Son of a bitch Kenpachi would probably make the rest of my family pay.

"Shut the fuck up Renji. I'll fuckin' gauge your eyes out." Ikkaku snarled.

"Aww, worried that your dear Yumchika might hear? Don't worry, I think deary little Ichi-berry can keep a quite mouth. Neh?" Renji chuckled.

"How about you shut the fuck up before I shoot your balls off and serve it the forest's beast on a stick? Neh?" I snapped.

"Hey! What the-"

"Like the kid said, shut the fuck up!" Kenpachi snarled. "Your fucking yapping is fucking making my ears bleed. Keep talking and I'll shove this blade down your throat, Abarai."

The said man clamped his mouth shut, but not before sending me a death glare. I just smirked at him and continued to our destination. But before I could even take a step forward, Kon stormed up a fury of barks and skipped to the right, chasing after what was most likely a red panda again. I cussed under my breathe and followed after him.

"Ichigo!" Isshin called.

"It's Kon. I'll get him, don't worry!" I continued to run after the crazy dog.

Although I was a rather fast runner, Kon was ahead of me by a few feet, leaping gracefully over the surfaced tree roots and dodging random boulders. And here I was, slipping on slightly damp soil and slamming into boulders after an uproot tripped me. "Kon, you idiot!" I hissed, still chasing him. "Heel boy!"

He finally stopped in a slightly open field. Kon's hackles were raised, legs spread apart, and his head lowered as he wrinkled his nose to let out a warning growl. I raised an eyebrow and followed Kon's gaze to where he was growling at. Behind the twisted trees and over-shadowing leafed tree-branches stood a worn down shrine. Moss coated nearly all of the shrine's walls and stairs, vines wrapping around its surface and clawing its way inside. It looked wrecked, like it hasn't been taken care of for years, or decades.

Then I remembered what Isshin had suddenly brought up today, that he used to guide people to this shrine, just before it's guardian abandoned it. I wondered why it had done that though. Kon's curled tail straightened and his fur stood on ends. His growls turned into a furious series of barking.

"Kon shut up!" I hissed, fearing that he might draw in unwanted attention from the forest's creatures. Or that yokai.

Just then there was a flash of blue, just like that stormy afternoon, and a light rumble of thunder. My stomach fell and panic seared through me. "Kon! Let's go!" The panic was clear in my voice, but the dog didn't seem to notice. I started scrambling on my feet, wondering what to do now.

_Snap! _

I jumped and noticed that I've stepped on something. I paused, and looked under my feet, discovering a sun-bleached bone shattered under my foot. It's not the only one. No. There are bones scattered at both of my sides. Skulls, rib cages, others I can't seem to recognize. It takes me a moment to see that most of them are not human, but they're animal remains. Most. I can't determine what kind of skeletons the others were, and I find myself not wanting to.

"Kon damnit! I'll leave you if you don't listen!" He stood his ground, his barking reverted back into his growls. But this time, Kon's growls sounded different, as if he was hesitating. "Kon!" I snapped at him.

The shrine's doors slammed open, one of the doors fell from such force, and mist poured out. I had become rooted to my spot and Kon ceased his growling. As the mist thinned, a figure revealed it self, a cat. Correction, the big cat. _The yokai._

"You?" It's piercing blue eyes cut through me. I was too shocked to do anything but stand there and stare. "Ya sure like ta stare at me, dontcha?" His voice rumbles, and I could have mistaken it for the thunder rolling again.

He begins to make his way down the weather-worn steps, those chromatic powder blue eyes still on me. He doesn't seem to even notice Kon. Kon soon reduced himself to a whining lump of fur and when the demon approached close enough, he retreated. I don't blame him. If I could just will myself to move, I would have fled too.

But I couldn't. I didn't want to. I just wanted to stay there, continue to sink into those orbs of blue skies. I wondered what it would be like to just lose myself from just staring at them forever. I wondered about a lot of things at that moment. Like if that coat of ebony and alabaster fur was as soft as it looked. Or if the yokai did have a human form, what would it look like? Would it be just as stunning and breath-taking as he was now? Would he still have those endless blue eyes?

Screams break out through the forest shaking me out of my state of delirium. It's them, Kenpachi's group. Did dad already trigger the bee's nest? The trees start to rustle and soon, Kenpachi's group reached us. They're covered in red welts, some bee's still attached to the rising skin. Their weapons are drawn and raised, a dangerous expression on the faces. Especially Kenpachi's, he was outraged, pissed, infuriated, and any other word to described the crossed emotion on his swollen face.

The blue-eyed demon's hackles raised, lightning flashed, and he turned toward their presence. He wrinkled his nose, jaws exposed to reveal a set of gleaming white teeth in the most intimidating way, as a deep and ferocious snarl rolled from it's throat. Kenpachi's group seemed to be locked in a state of shock as well, their pissed expressions erased and replaced with horror. But it seemed like the yokai wasn't done horrifying them yet. Static buzzed in the air, blue sparks crackled, surrounding the yokai. The mist gathered around him, the white mist graying into black, angry, tiny clouds. The electricity in the air was absorbed into the mini-storm, rumbling and hissing, before dispersing back into the air as mist.

A God. That's all I have to say to describe him. No way was he a demon. No-freaking-way. He was too perfect, too beautiful, too god-like. If he was one, then he would be the only yokai to ever look this gorgeous and heart-breakingly captivating.

His eyes were just as beautiful as they were in his old form, perhaps maybe even more appealing in this new one. His hair was an absolute mess of blue, sexed up tresses. Blue unruly hair swept back, tailing down the nape of his neck and stopping just between his shoulder blades, only a few small strands defied to rest atop of his forehead. He wore a royal blue kosode kimono, like the ones the samurai who pass the village wore, but his seemed more tattered and he wore his in a jaunty fashion. The haori of his outfit hung off his shoulders and the sleeves of his kosode slipped, exposing lightly bronzed skin of the taunting, chiseled, muscular chest. Heavens, everything about his body just exhibit overwhelming sex appeal.

"Yokai." Ikkaku gasped.

While I stood there, in the state of cloud desire, Kenpachi's group quivered in fear. The god smirked, his blue orbs glimmering with amusement. Lightning flashed again, and he was gone. I blinked, discovering that had reappeared behind Kenpachi. "Scurry off ya scums, before I fry ya remains ta nothin' but a pile of useless ash." He warned.

They reverted back to screaming, scampering off into the woods again, this time in the direction of the forest depths. The god cackled in delight, his laughter sending shivers of glee up and down my spine. He then faced me, sending my heart back up in my throat just like last time. Suddenly, panic sided with the lust that blurred my mind. His beauty was so overwhelming, to the point where it intimidated me, forcing me to act on instinct and load my bow with an arrow and shoot.

The arrow whizzes past his neck, lodging into the trunk of the tree behind him. I missed. Thank goodness. It must have been that arrow with the broken notch.

_Wait! What the hell am I thinking?_ What's going on with my mind? One second, I'm drooling over this man, another I shoot an arrow at him, and then I'm relieved that it didn't struck him, the one thing that had intended to devour me. God or no god. I still remembered that this creature had its mind set on eating me. And I've just given him another chance and do so.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, no longer gleaming of rapture. He was calculating, predicting my next move. Automatically, I reloaded my bow, this time making sure the arrow wasn't broken. The demon(or whatever the hell he was) paused, arching a thin blue eyebrow at my actions.

"Yer not gonna waste yer arrows tryin' get me, again, are ya?"The blue demon smiled devilishly.

I shuddered. "Depends, are you going to try and eat me, again?"

He lets out a loud, bodacious roar of laughter. "Well, that depends on yer definition of 'eat', Kitten."

I flushed at his sexy, baritone tone. The way he was saying it...almost like how Karin said it when she was teasing me. I was too flustered to even notice the repeated nickname.

"W-What do you mean by that?" The blush on my cheeks spread to my ears.

His eyes glimmer. "Cute." And there's that bright, blinding, blue light again. I winced, blinking to clear the spots from my vision, and as I opened my eyes he's hovering over me.

"What th-" He cuts me off with a forceful yet smooth press his of full lips.

Sparks flew. _Literally._ His lips buzzed against mine, forcing a stifling moan from my occupied lips. The blue haired demon groaned against me as he brought both his hand up to frame those long fingers along my jaws. I felt goosebumps dot my skin at the voluptuous sound. Everything felt hot. The air, his skin, my body. His lips parted for a moment to nip my own. A whine squeezes it way between my pressed lips and he bites my lips softly again before licking them apologetically and there's another spark.

"Ah!" That loud moan slips me, leaving me even more vulnerable and he takes the chance and swoops in to take that opportunity.

His tongue slides in, entangling my own tongue, dancing and mapping the insides of my mouth. Another moan struggles it's way out of my throat and the demon growls along with it. He sucks my tongue, consuming everything of mine. My breathe, my lust, my soul, and my heart. I'm panting against his mouth, helpless to everything he's doing to me. But what was worst that I was enjoying all that he was doing to me. I was failing to remember why I shouldn't actually.

I find the spirit to finally do something and shift my hands to smooth over the planes of his exposed chest. Heat radiates off of him like a sun-hot stone, heightening my want, and I find myself pressing my chest against his. My fingers somehow finds it's way into the other's blue, unruly locks, and buried themselves deep at the nape. I tugged softly at them as I returned his kiss with bite and a lick.

"Shit." He rumbles, the sound was almost like a purr of delight.

Something hard presses against my thigh. A thrill run through me and I moved to bite his jawline. His hands move from my face and switched over to my sides, his fingers running along the sides of my ribs. I moan more, panting, silently begging him to do more. I grind into him, finding that his haori was getting too much in the way. I slip the sleeves of his kosode kimono completely off his long yet sinewy arms. I run my fingers over the ripped flesh, enjoying how they rippled each time he moved his arms.

"Impatient, aren't ya, Kitten?"He purrs.

Through my fog of lust, the word hits me like a sharp rock. "Kitten?" I hissed, pushing him away.

Suddenly realizing to what I had done, my face blooms into an even darker blush of red.

"Che," He clicks his tongue. "Why ya pushed me?"

"The fuck you going around calling me kitten for? Huh? Do I look like some kind of pet?" I snarled.

He blinks. "Just 'cause of the nickname?" He then rolled his eyes. "Fuck, yer a touchy one."

"Fuck you, you son of a-"

Again, he silences me with a kiss, this time a lot less smooth and a bit more rough and forceful. "Hush." He mumbles against me. I find myself doing so, suddenly drained of the anger and no longer protesting. He places his hands on my hips and start massaging my hip bones with those warm fingers. I sighed into his mouth, grinding my crotch forward.

"Ichigo!" A voice calls me out of the situation. I jump, pushing the blue-haired man away out of reflex. Isshin. "Ichigo!" he repeats, distress and panic obvious.

"Damn it." The blue demon growled.

And before I could do anything, he swoops into my collar-bones and bites a place under them. I squeaked and swung my hand to hit him but he dodges it.

"Grimmjow." He says.

I falter. "Grimmjow?"

He nods. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Remember it, Ichigo." There's this bright, blinding flash of lightning, and he's gone again.

I'm suddenly very cold, but Isshin finds me soon, attempting to kick me down from where I was standing. I swiftly dodged him and he lands face first in a pile of white, dry bones. As he goes into a short state of hysteria over the animal remains and the ancient shrine, I rub the area the Grimmjow had inflicted. Kon's barking at the shrine again and I have to drag both Kon and Isshin back home.

_'Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez huh?'_ I thought. _'I wonder who gave him that name...'_

* * *

*****Brothel- prostitution bathhouse

Isshin! Why you blocking Grimmjow's cock you cock-blocker!

Tee-Hee!Dun worry! He'll come back in the next chapter! And no, no smut yet haven't exactly planned out where the smut will go.

Blegh, this chapter was so long! But I had nothing to do all(- my life ;A; -) day so I decided to do something productive and do this! Wow, I finished it so fast though! o.O

Now excuse me while I chug down some strawberry milk~! *-*

**REVIEW PLEASE! AND LET ME KNOW ABOUT ANY MISTAKES THAT I MISSED!**


	4. The Thunder Beast, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

**Author Notes:** I hate myself for being so short tempered. I almost cried typing out this chapter. No. Not because it's sad, or that there's some horrible event within this chapter. It's because I got so frustrated thinking about the chapter's title that I teared up out of anger. Bleh. They make medicine for people like me but apparently my physician thinks I'm mentally stable. Pfft. Anyways, this isn't the place for me to rant. So, on with the story~! .

* * *

**IV. The Thunder Beast, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez **

Embarrassment. So much embarrassment. I want to disappear from the face of the earth. Just hide under a rock or at the bottom of the sea for the rest of my miserable life. Tatsuki and Urahara are laughing their asses off, wiggling their fingers at my exposed chest, which is the absolute source of my humiliation. But it doesn't end there. God, how I wanted it to just end there. Yet, I know that after they're done having this round of laughter, they'll want an explanation for my...love bite. Just thinking about it makes me sink further in my ocean of embarrassment. And I don't want to tell them. Not in front of my father. Just after seeing the love bite he started wailing 'My son is no longer my little boy!But a man!' and grounded himself to some random corner to bawl his eyes out. Orihime though, she's taking it pretty well, but she's avoiding eye contact as she pours my portion of tea like she'll start laughing too if she see my face or chest.

"Assholes." I muttered while tightening the collar of my kimono over my chest.

"Sorry, sorry!" Tatsuki struggled out through her giggling. "The tea and taro-blossom rice cakes are on the house for compensation over your...humiliation."

Being the co-owner of Orihime's Six Flower Hibiscus Tea Shop, things like giving free food as compensation must come easy to Tatsuki. So I decided to take advantage of that generosity.

"Add some soba noodles and we're even." I said.

he laughing stopped for a moment. "Che, fine." But then there's a sneaky gleam in her eyes. "But you know Ichigo, soba noodles is a lot to ask for. Buckwheat doesn't come cheap nowadays and Orihime works hard to brew 'em up."

"No." I answered before she even get the chance to voice her offer. "Forget the soba noodles then. I'm fine with the tea and rice cakes."

Tatsuki clicks her tongue. "Oh come now. All I'm asking is to know how you got that little hickey there." She winks.

"That's right. It's a pretty good deal." Urahara chimed.

"I'm not selling my story just for soba noodles." I growled.

"Oh! So you're selling?" Urahara perked up.

"Shut up already and get off my case!" I slammed the half empty cup down and crossed my arms like an immature child.

"Really Ichigo, is it that bad?" Tatsuki grumbles. "It's not like you went to a brothel or hired someone."

"Is it?" Urahara nudge me with his elbow.

"Seriously, stop it." I growled. "I'm have nothing to tell you guys. For all I know, the moment I tell you something, the whole freaking village knows by the end of the night."

"You can tell me though." Orihime blushed.

My jaw dropped. "Orihime!"

Her blush deepens. "It's a joke."

Tatsuki snickers. "Never heard you make a joke like that before, dove."

"Shush now." Before her blush turns to an even darker shade of red, she retreats to the kitchen.

"Maaa, I end up embarrassing her too now." Tatsuki sighs and takes a sip of her tea.

"Moving on to much more important matters." I said, more than desperate to change the subject. "Any word about the Soul Society?"

Urahara changes the volume of his voice upon this subject. "Yeah, the Soul Society begun to go a bit chaotic after Kenpachi and his gang didn't come back."

"I wonder if the yokai really did get them..." Tatsuki hums. "It's most likely they got lost though. That forest is a labyrinth."

I find myself silently hoping that they did got lost. What would I do if it turns out that Grimmjow had ate them? I mentally shuddered. What if he was really the one who had attacked all of those people? What should I do then? Somehow convince him that he should stop attacking the towns people every time they went after him? Could I do that? I mean, it seems that he fancies me after that make-out session...But is that enough to try and convince him? Though, he might not be the one that hurt them. It might be some other yokai in the forest doing that. It's possible, the forest was said to be full of yokai, and he's not the only one. But he has that electricity ability, and the victims who were attacked suffer from burns that have been caused by lightning strikes. Also, after hearing the warning that Grimmjow had given Kenpachi and his goons, I can't seem to think that there was a possibility that it wasn't him.

But every single time I begin to think that Grimmjow is the culprit, I think of the way he kissed and held me that time. It was brief, sudden, and forceful, yet I liked it. Through those animalistic eyes, rough voice, and impulsive demeanor, all I could see was something misunderstood.

_'Lame.' _I think.

Although I find myself wanting to know more about this Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. But how? I couldn't go back to the forest of Menosu with the Soul Society being suspicious of it now. Would he try and leave the forest to find me. No, I doubt he would do that just for me. I scratched my head in frustration and ended up deciding to go home and rest. I was exhausted from hauling sacks and sacks of herbs and handing out the ordered supplies and negotiating for the next stock our customers expected. And Yoruichi wasn't very happy with having to help me and Isshin pick out the bees from their hive either, and I had ended up being on the receiving end of her torturous lectures while Urahara ditched us to meet Orihime at the teashop first. I said my good-byes to the group, ignoring Urahara's and Tatsuki's unchaste comments, and half-dragged half-ignored my father all the way back home.

Karin is checking our inventory, counting up the available spaces after our shipments trip to the clinics. Yuzu looked like she was finishing up on preparing dinner, leek soup with bamboo shoots, but she pauses to look out the window. She can barely look out it though on her tippy-toes.

"Oh no." She sighs. "It seems like it'll start raining again."

I furrowed my brows as I finished putting away the sacks. "What do you mean?"

Yuzu points up and out of the window, her fingers pointing directly in the direction of the forest. Above the ominous forest hovered an unambiguous monumental storm cloud. It's monstrous figure sailed the winds steadily towards us. By how slow it was going and how far away it was, it might hit during midnight or so. I scowled. Is this Grimmjow's doing though? Was he capable of something like creating that ginormous thundercloud?

"Ichi-nii." Yuzu called. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head and plastered a smile on my tired face. "Nahh, just a bit exhausted trying to control that old troll back there." I pointed back at Isshin.

Isshin pouted. "My son is so harsh. Calling his beloved father a monster."

"Yeah, you're right. You're no troll." Karin teased. "It's more like an old-goat."

While my family chattered and bickered at one another, my thoughts of that blue-haired demon hardly ceased. Yuzu caught me waver here and there, Karin too but she was a bit less kind about it with her perverted teasing. Father, knowing the reason for her teasing, started sobbing until the end of our dinner saying stuff like 'why must age work so fast?' or some other ridiculous nonsense. We spent the rest of the evening doing our own business, Karin sparring with Yuzu with basic fighting styles that father taught us, Isshin grooming Kon's fur, while I lounged on the porch staring up at the darkening indigo sky.

"Ichi-nii!" Yuzu's voice was strained with distress and terror.

On instinct, I scrambled to my feet, panic thick in the air. Father was already on his feet, hurrying past me and leaped from the porch. "Karin! Run to Urahara's and get anyone to come and help us! Yuzu, prepare the medical aid. Let's go Ichigo!"

I remained unaware of our situation, oblivious to what distressed Yuzu and my father so. That was until we were in the tall fields of grass, blood wavered in the crisp evening air. Everything was barely lit through the sunset sky, but I was still able to see the cause for my family's frightened actions. It was Kenpachi, clutching his broken katana in a quivering arm as he supported the rest of his body weakly over his blood soaked knees and his stained scabbard that he used as extra support. Upon seeing us, his face flooded with relief and exhaustion, and he collapsed. I rushed by his side and rolled him to his side to check for major injuries.

"Ikkaku ...Renji...alive..." He croaked out. "Back there..."

"I'll get them." Isshin assured, disappearing to retrieve his companions.

Guilt gnawed at my chest as I watched Kenpachi struggle for air as he raggedly coughed out blood tinted phlegm. He suffered from a deep laceration in his right leg from what looked like a blade inflicted wound, animal bites dotted his ankles but they were bleeding steadily, and lastly, his whole chest was burned. From the damp, angry red blanching skin, I concluded he received a second degree burn and guessed that this might not be the only burns he received. But at the center of his chest was an ugly, charred, crooked 'X'. It's a damn miracle how he survived*****. I began to hyperventilate. Not because of the extremities of Kenpachi's injuries, I've seen far worst than this. No, it was because I did this to him. I did this to him and his friends and nearly killed them. It was possible that they would end up dying from this. I created the plan, persuaded Kensei to lead the plan into action, therefore causing Kenpachi and his group's horrible situation. And now, they might die because of me.

"Ichigo!" Isshin hollered. I flinched, and gawked at my father. He was already heading back towards our home with the two other victims hunger over each shoulder. "Let's go son!"

I faltered, but conformed nevertheless. This wasn't the time to sulk or brood. I must help save these people. I hunched Kenpachi's weak form over my shoulder and dragged him behind Isshin's lead. I winced each time Kenpachi or the others groaned or cry out from their pain. Isshin laid each of the injured along the porch upon a mat that Yuzu had placed and me and father slid them inside. Yuzu and father started their work, wiping the dirt and debris from their wrecked bodies. I quickly tended to their more serious injuries and placed pressure on the areas where blood leaked profoundly. Yoruichi soon arrived, her face wet and serious.

"Karin?" Isshin asked briefly.

"She's on her way here with Ururu and Jinta." She answered as she wiped the sweat and dirt off her skin with a clean cloth and begun her work.

She first started to tend to Kenpachi who sustained the worst injuries of all the group. He was hysteric, chanting a mantra of some kind of dialect that I don't recognize. The rest of us aided the other two until Karin arrived with Ururu and Jinta. After that, everything was a blur. But soon, it was over. Kenpachi's injuries weren't as severe as they had seems, the bites on his ankles miss the main arteries and didn't puncture anything serious. His burns were already treated, but it is unknown if he suffered from any brain injury from the lightning strike upon the center of his chest. Renji suffered from second degree burns on his right, and also received a penetration wound from a blade right through the palms of his hands. Ikkaku suffered from minor internal abdominal bleeding and only that.

It wasn't as serious as the other victims who suffered the same attacks way before them. But it still brings me great guilt knowing that I had caused this on purpose.

"Hisagi..."Renji murmurs.

Blood flushes from my face. He's not here. "What happened to him?"

"Ichigo hush!" Yoruichi commands. "The patients are in no condition to be interrogated right now!"

"It took him..." Renji croaks. "The little bastard fuckin' took Hisagi...sick...little shit..."

I sat back, my whole body going numb with terror, my brain filled with overwhelming thoughts that I believed my brain would split in half. I cowered and hid my head in my arms. No way...he took Hisagi? Did he? These bites and lightning inflicted burns... could Grimmjow have really done this?

"Ichigo." Yoruichi tapped my forearm. "The patients are in no critical condition at the moment. We've decided to transport them to Urahara's before the storm hits later."

"Okay, I'll help." My voice was suddenly raspy, as if I was on the verge of crying.

She shook her head. "Tessai, Urahara, and Chad are coming over to help the transport. Your father will also help. You need to stay here and care for your sisters since its getting dark." She hugged me, which was something extremely rare for her. "It could have been worst Ichigo." She whispers soothingly. "But you did good. You've saved them." She then puts me at an arms-length away from her, my shoulders still in her grasp. "Even if they're good for nothing yakuzas."

_-Midnight: The thunderstorm-_

Lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and the clouds devoured every speck of moonlight. The only light there was available was the light that radiated from the cheaply waxed candle I lit earlier and the second short flickers of lightning. We received no rain from this thunderstorm, tonight, it was all sparks and electricity.

After hours and hours of thinking, the situation in my head didn't get better. My mind was still hazed by various emotions, from guilt to self-hatred. Yes. I've saved Kenpachi and his pals, but knowing the Soul Society, they won't be the only ones who would dare venture the forest. The Soul Society were very vengeful people and when they enter those shadowed woods, they will be seeking blood. Yokai blood. Grimmjow's blood. Now I'm torn between to worlds. I don't know who to side with. I feel this ridiculous attraction towards this being that I had only met in such a short time. I'm probably plagued from some infatuation spell that he must of placed on me or a platonic love that every mortal stumbles by at least once in their life. But it still doesn't justify the fact that I want to protect Grimmjow from the avenging yakuzas.

I created this situation where the yakuzas believed that there's someone in the forest who plan on raiding Karakura Village. And to the Soul Society, this is absolutely unacceptable. Add that with the fact that Kenpachi's group had come back half dead with one member missing makes an unforgiving Soul Society capable of doing almost anything to extract their revenge. They might even resort to burning down the forest. I gnawed on my lip, my scowl deepening even more. Lightening flashed, momentarily illuminating the serene faces of my young sisters as they huddled under the covers from the coldness of this dry thunderstorm. Isshin was asleep as well with Kon curled over the lumpy covers of his snoring form. I was the only one awake, too restless and bothered by persistent thoughts to spare myself a night's rest.

Kon woke up after a certain loud thunder roll. He shook his fur and skipped his way over to me. I opened my arms up and allowed him to curl in the cross of my legs. I pet his rough yet well-groomed hair as he shuddered and whined from his astraphobia. We stayed like that for a while, but soon, he grew uncomfortable in my hold and leaped off my legs. He scurried off to the front of our little house-like shack and stayed there, staring at the door.

"Really? Now?" I muttered but complied to his needs and stood up.

Suddenly Kon started growling at the door, ears pressed back against his skull as he backs off slowly. I frowned as he retreated to his hiding place under the cabinets. Something clicked. Kon acted the same before Grimmjow appeared. I swallowed, my heart speeding up excitedly, my skin crawled with delight. Oh how I suddenly wished it was Grimmjow. But rationality anchored me to reality. What if it's not Grimmjow? I retrieved my blade and grasped the hilt and unsheathed it half-way. I cautiously opened the shoji door with just enough space for me to go through. I peeked through the opening, looking both sides before a flash forces me to squint.

Nothing.

My heart skids, pumping blood faster as the stream of adrenaline start to kick in, my ears thrumming from the rush. I slipped outside, taking each step with much caution and silence as I could summon. The grip I had on the hilt started to turn slick from my sweaty hands. There was another flash, one brighter and bluer than the others. Blue.

"Took ya long enough." A familiar velvet, baritone voice drawled.

I ignored the fluttering in my chest and swept around, weapons raised and face solid and cold.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "Does it really have ta be like this every time I see ya?"

I didn't bother to answer his question. I have my own list to ask him. A very long one. And right now, he had no right to stand there and ask me questions.

"Was it you who killed them?" I asked, my voice not as harsh as I wanted it to be.

His eyebrows knotted, a frown daring to mar his beautiful face. "Didn't mean ta."

"What do you mean you didn't mean to?" I snarled.

"Look, I was pissed, 'kay? I was in a shitty mood, and when I get mad, things like that storm tends ta happen. Understand?"

"So you just took it all out on those innocent people?" Confusion flashes across his face before he gives me an angered expression. "Look, I get it that you were mad. And you had every right to try and defend yourself against those people who tried to hunt you. But just because you're a yokai doesn't mean you should solve all your problems by turning everyone into burnt crisps."

The rage I saw before was gone, and instead, confusion and bafflement seized him. I caught on to his confusion, wondering why and what I said to have caused him to look at me like I was speaking another dialect.

"I'm no yokai." He finally says.

"What?" I sputtered.

"I'm no yokai." He repeats, and it's obvious I've offended him with my assumption.

My ears felt hot with blush and I started to sympathized for his ego. "S-Sorry. I thought umm..." I trailed off deciding not to finish my sentence and offend him a second time. I chewed at my lip. "So...may I know what exactly you are before I refer you the wrong way again."

Grimmjow gives me that roguish smirk before he speak again in a luscious deep voice. "Thunder beast."

I gulped. "You're Raiju!"

His smirk eases back and his eyes solidify. "Not anymore."

"What, I thought you said-"

"I _am_ a thunder beast, but I'm not a Raiju anymore. Raiju is a title, not a individual bein'. A thunder beast or a spirit with the affinity fer electric elements is chosen to hold the title of Raiju under the command and companionship of Raijin, the lord of thunder, lightnin', and storms." He pauses, his sapphire blue eyes scanning my face for any misunderstanding, but he still tries and confirms, "Yer understanding what I'm sayin', right?"

I nod. But I can't help but gawk at all the things that I'm hearing. "So, you didn't attack those people?"

"I attacked no one." Grimmjow states. "It was only those animals that I hurt with ma lightnin', and it was on accident. It goes against all I've lived fer to attack a harmless and pathetic human who's only weapon is either a pitchfork or a rusty katana on purpose." He drawls. " 'Sides, why do I wanna damage ma reputation fer? It's bad enough as it is already."

I stood there, studying his face for any signs that he's telling the truth or not, and I know that I can trust him. I lowered my weapon and let out a relieved sigh.

"So why did you lose your title as Raiju?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes and drew closer, his face a mere two or three inches away from mine, breath fanning my face. "Na-ah babe. I answered a lot of yer questions, so now it's my turn."

I open my mouth to question him but no words come out. I just stood there as he closed the space between us with a fierce kiss. He wastes no time to prod my lips apart and invade me. The blade falls from my loosened grip and clatters on the wooden planks of the porch. I don't pay too much mind to it though. I can't. It's difficult to think of anything else but Grimmjow and all that he's doing to me.

"Ya don't have a lover, right?" Grimmjow murmurs against my lips.

"Fuck no." It wasn't until I had said that line that made me realized I was panting.

Grimmjow's tongue slides across my bottom lip. "Good, 'cause I don't share. At all."

I laughed, a laugh too high pitched to be anything but a giggle. Oh god, I must be going crazy to have allowed myself to let something so embarrassing escape me. But I can't control anything that I'm doing. My searching hands, grinding hips, and willingly obedient demeanor, this is all so different of me. But I have no qualms against it. There's that spark again, just like last time, that had my lips buzzing. My hands are shaking violently as they roam over his body until I moved my hands to anchor themselves into his soft blue locks. I want more. I pull him closer to me, closing every bit of space that remained between us. Grimmjow lets out a carnal and wild growl and I shuddered violently at the delicious rhapsody.

I bite into his lips this time lacking the restraint I had earlier and drew blood from his swollen lip. He grunts at this but doesn't mind much. My lips drifts past his mouth and travels across his jawbone and my mouth starts to nip and lick at the hollow of his jugular near his jawbone. Grimmjow snarls and retaliates by teasing the shell of my ear.

"Shit," he breathes into my ear, his voice sounding even more orgasmic this close. "Were ya plannin' ta leave a mark?" He leans back to eye me, his smile smug and eyes evident with amusement. "To bad bein' a thunder beast and all, things like hickeys don't stay fer long babe."

I scowled. "That's not fair." It was a bit hard trying to control my tongue too and all that came out was baby blabber. My mouth felt numb and tingled a bit as well.

Grimmjow frowns, his face no longer smug, and he brings one warm hand to cradle my cheek. "Guess I gone a bit overboard with the sparks."

"Ehh? You tried to shock me?"

He gave me this saucy smile and a fast peck on my swollen lips before I could evade him. "Not too much though." His hand guides me to face him again. " 'M sorry, 'kay?" He slurred and pressed his forehead against mine.

I sighed and silently forgave him. I remained silent for a long time. I wouldn't know how long this lasted since the length of time didn't matter right now. I just stood there with him, absorbing his body's warmth and breathing in his crisp yet sharp woodland scent. Thunder hummed in the distance and lightning glinted dimly in the distance. The moon finally revealed itself, plump with light and glowing like the sun. We stood like that for a while, eyes closed and breathing the other's air. It felt nice, not as much as it was kissing him, but it was in a heart-warming way. I've only met him three times, yet this guy was already winning my heart.

"I really don't want you to leave." I said.

"Yea, I dun wanna go either." He sighs raggedly. "But gotta soon. It's gettin' real late now. Dun want yer pops gettin' any ideas now, do you?"

"Not like hasn't already." I muttered and my face heated up from shame after taking notice to what we did right outside my house. "I wonder if anyone heard us."

Grimmjow smiles, teeth gleaming in the streaming moonlight. "Nahhh, I drowned it out with the thunder."

I scowled. "So you planned this all?"

He leers. "Yeah, all except fer the questionin'. Didn't think that ya would think that I was a demon."

Shame deepened the redness on my face and I attempt to look away from him. But Grimmjow stops me from doing so with a grasp of my chin with his long fingers.

"I want you to meet _me_ next time." Grimmjow requests.

"Where?" I asked. I was already more than willing to meet him again.

"At that old shrine in the forest." He answered.

I frowned. "I can't."

His brows furrowed together. "Why not?"

More guilt. I gnawed my lips, remembering this series of event that I had caused. "Because there's this yakuza group that's become suspicious of the forest, and they're seeking revenge for their comrades." My mouth was growing drier by the minute. I wasn't looking at him, but I could feel his eyes still on me. " And because of me, they're after your blood. They might even burn down the forest."

He sighs. " Did you give them specific details that about me?" I shook my head. "Do they know what I look like?" Again I shook my head. "Do they even know who exactly they're looking for?"

"I told them it was a group of bandits..."

"Then they ain't looking fer me Ichi." I ignored the nickname in turn for the wave of relief that washed over me. "Don't know why ya over-exaggerating over nothin' babe." Grimmjow cups my face and forces me to look directly into those hypnotizing eyes of blue skies. "So this means I can get ya to come over and visit me, right?"

I gazed into the endless sapphire orbs of endless blue. He already had me. "Yeah."

" 'Kay then." Grimmjow gives me another kiss, this time with no sparks, but it still excites me."Then I'll answer all the questions ya have. I promise."

Flash. And he's gone.

* * *

***- yeah, I don't think anyone can survive a direct strike from lightning like Kenpachi did. Usually, they go under cardiac arrest. Later on, it is explained that Hisagi preformed CPR on him and revived him, but I won't explain too much about it because I'll be giving out some vital info(spoilers). I'm just leaving this information here just to clear up any confusion.**

I have some news out there for you guys~

1)Should I continue writing Grimmjow with a lazy slang or re-edit this all and give him some proper speaking skills?

2)Next chapter, all questions about Grimmjow will be clear up. So if any of you are having a hard time understanding anything about him or his situation, just leave a question in the review thingy and I'll put it up as Ichigo asking Grimmjow the questions that you asked. Good, yeah?

3)I'll be posting the next chapter (chpt. 5) between 4/23 or 4/25.

4)No smut yet ;A; I'm sorry. You can have my love as compensation.


	5. Opium Poppy

**Author's Notes:** So I'm feeling better about my story :3 And it's all thanks to you lovely reviewers out there~! Seriously. I'm beginning to enjoy writing this story out more and more. This chapter wasn't as much as a pain as I had predicted. And now, thanks to my blogging pal (JuniPea-Viola is her codename) this chapter was a breeze. I also started up on another fanfic(if those of you don't know) called** Clairvoyance**. But, it may start off a bit boring. Yeah. I also started another story called **The Songbird's Lullaby**(Has more smut, but check it out for more details). Anyways, read. review, & enjoy!

* * *

**V.**

**Opium Poppy**

I gazed into the forest, my readied bow tight within my my grasps, as I contemplated on my plans.

I had none.

Yesterday, I had agreed ever so brashly upon visiting Grimmjow. I was so hasty with answering him and agreeing that I failed to think clearly and properly enough to actually asked how I would find my way back to the shrine. It was all luck that I was able to find that shrine (thanks to Kon) and I absolutely doubt that luck will try and guide me yet again if I blindly lead myself into the forest with out knowing where to go. And currently, Kon was refusing to leave his sanctuary under the cabinets, so I can't get him to lead me back into there. And god forbid I ask Isshin to guide me. I would like to avoid his never-ending questions and quick assumption as much as possible. He's already suspicious enough after discovering my love-bite, I don't want him leading to(or connecting) any conclusions now.

So here I stand, waiting for something to happen. Anything. Yet nothing happened. After twenty minutes when the sun had fully rise up for a new morning, I decided maybe I should head home and try this later. Whatever I was doing.

"You the mortal?" A rasping voice stopped me.

I looked over my shoulder and back at the forest only to a bulky, brutish looking man. I gulped.

"And what of it?" I replied.

The stranger scoffed. "Answer the question, you're wasting my time and he's waiting for you."

"Grimmjow?"I said, a bit offhandedly.

He narrows his black beady eyes and it's become obvious that he was starting to lose his patience with me. "Are all you shits this dumb? Why the fuck do you keep asking a bunch of bullshit? Fuck, just answer the fuckin' question. You the mortal he's waiting for?"

"Yeah." I answered through my gritted teeth.

He grunts and then turns his back to me. "Follow me then." And he starts walking off.

I did so. As I'm tailing behind his lead, I wonder if this bastard either forgot my name, it wasn't mentioned to him, of if he felt as if learning my name wasn't for him to care too much about. I was leaning towards that last one considering this bastard had a bit of a seething attitude. Now, I'm not someone to judge based on someone's looks (even though I've done so multiple times), this man appeared brutal, arrogant, and filled with infinite amounts of pride. I noted the odd style of his odd half shaved black and half ragged, long red hair, along with a overly bulky muscular build. This guy might be an Oni. One of Grimmjow's allies perhaps? Did he have yokai's as allies?

The other stayed quiet, never initiating any forms of talking, and so I was left to keep quiet as well and follow his lead. Fortunately, it didn't take to long. After a while, we've reached the clearing of the shrine area. It looked better since the last time I had seen it. The vines that had last time entrapped the shrine were gone only leaving light outlines of it's existence on the doors. The moss on the stairs have cleared to, but they were still cracked here and there. As the other man lead me up the stairs, I felt a constant fluttering in my chest, and my throat started to dry with anticipation.

Upon arriving in front of the door, the larger being simply kick the door, as if he was too lazy to raise a hand and just knock.

"Damn it Edrad!" Grimmjow's familiar voice reverberated right through me as he snarls. "I told ya ta wai-"

"I got him." Edrad cut him off.

There was a stretched paused, before Grimmjow gives us a skeptical, "Seriously?"

There's a rustle here in there before the shrine's doors swung out to expose the blue-haired raiju...I mean, ex-raiju. He's staring at me with frazzled eyes and thin blue brows scrunched together in confusion. As he gazes at me, I share my own time in looking at him, taking in his heavenly presence. His kimono was tied loosely to his taut body, one of the sleeves of kosode slipped from it's place on his shoulder and hung off his wrist, revealing half of the chiseled muscle of his lightly tanned torso. I noticed that I was holding in my breath at the sight of Grimmjow when I noticed my vision blurring and taken a deep breath but kept it faint. As I breathed in, the scent of Grimmjow seized my senses. He smelled wonderful, so heavenly divine. The sharp musky smell of opium and his natural yet wild woodland aroma turned that fluttering in my chest into explosions. Am I nervous? What for?

"Didn't think ya would wanna visit me so early." He gives me a flash of a predatory grin before he scowled at Edrad's rude snort.

"Good thing to. If he hadn't, I would have had to wait out there all day." He snorted. "Can't believe you ask me to wait there for this da-"

"Edrad." Grimmjow's nose scrunched up in disgust as he glared at the other man, teeth partially bared for all to see his daunting canines. The said man furrowed his brows and pursed his lips closed. "You may leave now."

"Yes, Grimmjow-sama." And Edrad turned and descended down the stairs.

To just cut the awkwardness, I said the simplest thing that came to mind. "Friend of yours?"

Grimmjow smirks. "Ya, well, he's much more of an underling. Not very fond of those different from him." He says with a grunt. But this his displeased expression is replaced with something very smug and he leans against the door that is still closed. "So ya comin' in?"

I nodded hesitantly. The being turns around to head further inside, one of his hands raised towards me as it waves to beckon me inside. I do so, the loud and painful thudding in my chest never ceasing it's actions. The smell of Grimmjow grew stronger, and I felt like I was drifting into a high just from the second-hand smoking. There's another door before us, but unlike the shrine's two-door entrance, this one was a traditional shoji door. It slides open without Grimmjow even having to touch it. A tsunami of the piquant opium washes over me and I forced myself to stop from gagging and coughing up everywhere from the overwhelming fragrance. The smell of opium doesn't bother me, but it was so overwhelming that it burned my senses. Add that with Grimmjow's scent and I was nearing a seizure. I was never really that exposed to opium. I only know of it and it's properties. We never stumbled upon opium poppy plants, and the only time we ever see some is when a clinic wants us to trade it for another type of herb. Opium poppy was precious in the medical field because of it's sedative and anesthetic properties and we were always willing to trade a variety of herbs in turn for the plant. But instead of inhaling it, we make tea out of the dried poppy bulb or the seeds when preparing it for a patient. And this was completely different from brewing poppy tea.

"Sorry." He frowns at my face, and I'd guess I didn't have a very pleased expression. "I got kinda nervous."

"Nervous?" I sputtered.

"Answerin' questions no matter how personal they are tends ta be a little nerve-rackin'." He sits down to cross his feet in a pool of pillows.

I don't know whether I should be laughing at him or just continue giving him my skeptical look. Grimmjow, an ex-raiju, someone who owns an impulsive yet arrogant personality is nervous due to having to answer personal questions? Pfft.

Some windows are slid opened by an unknown force, allowing the intoxicating smoke out and the glowing sunlight in. With two of his fingers, Grimmjow gestures me to sit near him in the vast pillows, and I obliged. Even though the room was aired out more I could still see the smoke waver before me as it slowly clears, and the opium's slightly calming effects starting. Grimmjow brings up an opium lamp and lights it with a snap of his fingers, and he brings the pipe's lip to his mouth. It wasn't until Grimmjow puffed a couple of rings of smoke in my face for me to notice that I was staring at him. He chuckles at my bafflement and shift to lay on his side and support his head on his unoccupied hand. "Ya really gotta fix that starin' problem thing ya got there."

"You don't like being stared at?" I asked stupidly.

"Not one of my favorite things. Especially when I'm all bitter." Saying that reminds me of my first encounter with Grimmjow.

"Oh yeah." I awed in remembrance. "Is that why you attacked me? You were really pissed off and my staring just set you off?"

He bristles and takes in a deep puff of his pipe. "I was blinded by rage, 'kay? Thought ya were glarin' at me, especially since you were scowlin'."

I scowled, but apparently he finds my reaction hilarious and lets out a tantalizing bellow of laughter. I crossed my arms and looked in the other direction to avoid his leering gaze. "So why were you mad that day?"

Grimmjow tilts his head up and blows rings and balls of smoke above his head. "I was demoted. Didn't like that my title was taken away from me and given ta some weak ass little shit." It's his turn to scowl now.

I know that he's on a bad-side now, but I can't help but attempt to sedate my curiosity and try and ask him more. "Do you know the reason to why you were demoted?" I asked cautiously.

"_Unacceptable destructive and impulsive behavior." _He snorts. "Supposedly, I was causing too much trouble and my boss said it was too tedious cleaning up after my mess." He continues to grumble. "I've broken many rules, I admit that, but none that would revoke my entitlement as Raijin's companion, as the Raiju...I've often purposely avoided honorifics when referring to higher beings, I've killed yokai without the permission of any higher beings, and I may even brung harm to another being _once_." He then locks onto my gaze, arctic blue eyes looking into my own. "You tell me Ichigo, is that enough to revoke one's title?"

Unable to hide from those piercing eyes, I forcibly let out the truth. "I'm not someone you can ask that question to. It's not my place to judge you in whether or not your demotion was right. I'm only a mortal, and I don't exactly know how everything in the heavens work."

Grimmjow says nothing. He just continues to look into my eyes, his blue orbs probing my soul, face blank. I don't dare to break the contact for I'm too afraid of his reaction if I had done so. And then he lets out a sigh, but I'm not sure if it's of disappointment. I frowned. The last thing I wanted to do was to disappoint him. Grimmjow presses his back against the pillows and he leans his head back to eye the thin wisps of smoke flowing in the air. I started to gnaw at my lip. Is he really disappointed? Has he lost interest in me because of what I said?

I began with my apology, but Grimmjow cuts me off. "Raijin said that I was a prodigy." Grimmjow murmurs softly. "The lazy bastard said that I was the most talented and gifted beast out there. The one and only thunder beast with talent like mine." Before I could ask what he meant, he begins to explain. He raises the hand not holding his pipe and snaps his fingers. After sparks sizzled on his thumb, a blue flame flickers above his hand."Naturally thunder beasts are able to control electricity. But they also have another hidden ability, one that needs to be awakened through rigorous training. The ability to summon fire as well. " He then clasps his hand over the glowing flame and extinguishes it. "It's an extremely rare ability. It's an uncommon case that a thunder beast would have such an ability. And if they do, they're usually a raiju who trained themselves to awaken the ability after centuries of training."

"And you were one of them?" I asked.

He smirked. "I was more than one of them. I was unique compared ta them. Because I came into this world with the capability of summonin' flames without having ta train myself ta awaken the ability. And because of that, I was immediately given the position as Raiju." Then an appalled grimace takes over his previously cocky expression. "Then it was revoked, therefore I was demoted."

"Demoted to what?"

He inhales another puff of the opium. "Shrine god." As he says that, the smoke leaves his mouth in odd wisps and clouds.

"What happened to the previous god of this shrine?" I asked.

He growls, and I wonder if I touched something taboo to Grimmjow. "The rotten little bitch left thinkin' his little protest would work and they'd bow down to his needs. He was a thunder beast like me and he was after my place as Raiju." He lets out a peculiar snarl. "And the little fuck fuckin' got it. Can't believe they actually replace me with some lame fuck like that shit." He gives up on the opium pipe and settles it back down on it's holder.

I started fidgeting and wondering what should I do now since I caused Grimmjow to be so pissed off. I scooted he bit closer to him and raised my hand to try and brush those rebellious strands back from his scrunched up forehead. I almost sighed in relief when he didn't slap my hand away, and instead he closed his eyes. "Sorry." I said. "You didn't want to talk about that, huh? I should have not asked you that."

"You're bound ta know about it soon. And I rather have ya hear it from me than anyone else. Those bastards tend ta bend the truth and use all the wrong words."

"I know." I tangled my fingers in the long baby blue stands of his hair, reveling in it softness. "But I should have known to stop when you started getting mad."

The creases in his forehead smoothed out and now he's giving me the usual feral smile. My chest literally feels like there's a fire burning in it as he did so. I found myself hating it when Grimmjow frowned, the action itself was so heart-breaking, and I really never wanted to see him give me such an expression again. Grimmjow being sad was so... contrastive. It was so ironic to his cocky and spontaneous characteristics. Grimmjow reaches a hand behind my neck and rests it against the nape. His eyes bore into me, sharp and glimmering with fervor.

"Well," Grimmjow drawls pleasantly. "are ya willin' to make it up for me?"

I try to pick up on his flirtatious game and gave him a bewitching smile. "Maybe."

Grimmjow swiftly pulls my head down to meet his lips with my own. On contact, my heartbeat increased tenfold, my ears thudding with the sound of blood rushing to my head and through-out my body and into some certain areas. I don't know how could Grimmjow create such a reaction within me. Even without the sparks, my head was buzzing with delight. Was it because he was a god's ex-raiju? Or was it because of the drugging effects of the opium? No, that does the complete opposite and calms you. Then, was it because of the fact the I was a total virgin(in everything) until I met Grimmjow? Before I met Grimmjow, others never really appealed to me to the point where I felt an unruly attraction like I did towards Grimmjow. I didn't even know if I had preferred men or woman, and assumed I was to be attracted to woman since my father intended to pass down our family's name through out our generation of children. Sorry pops.

But seriously. What was it about Grimmjow that had me so wild?

"What are ya thinkin' about so damn much?" Grimmjow growled against my lips, eyes gazing at my own as if he could read my soul.

I pulled back slightly, but it was only the few centimeters that Grimmjow's grip would allow. "I wonder how this will work." And there's that frown that dared to blemish Grimmjow's godly beauty again, tearing a new hole of guilt in my heart. "You're a thunder beast, an immortal, an ex-raiju. But I'm just a mortal human." The trembling in my voice was faint, but it would still be noticeable to Grimmjow's acute senses. "Will the heavens allow such a relationship exist between two opposite beings? And what would happen afterwords if they do? You're kinda immortal right? Long life and everything, but me...I'd only last about forty or fifty more years before I'd pass away if I'm lucky enough. And the aging will be so-"

"Stop." Grimmjow snarled, his tone enraged and feral. His eyes are tightly closed, facial expression scrunched up in annoyance. The hand on my neck tightens slightly enough to make me squirm uncomfortably. "Don't talk like that. Ever. I don't want to hear you talk so pessimistically."

"Grimmjow, I'm only stating the truth. I'm not going to lie or sugar-coat things like everything is just dandy."

"I'm not askin' ya to lie Ichigo." I felt a bit of the fight in me die down by how soft he said my name. "Neither am I askin' ya to sugar-coat anythin'. I just don't want to hear ya talk shit like that like everythin' will turn up in doom. 'Cause it won't. 'Kay? One way or another, I'll find out somethin' for us ta stay together for as long as you'd like."

"You mean that?" I was unsure if Grimmjow was so willing to make himself put up with that kind of commitment. Someone like him...it was a bit awkward. And we also met like three or four days ago. And we only encountered each other three times, this is our fourth.

"I promise." He says. "And being the shrine god of the Forest of Menosu is pretty handy. I get to watch you and protect you and you're family."

"Does that include Karakura village?"

He rolled his head. "Kinda. Karakura used to be apart of the forest before villagers cleared it for buildings and stuff."

"Mmm," I hummed. "How old are you?"

"Are you stalling me so you won't have to kiss me?" It was obvious Grimmjow was avoiding the question. And why would he ever think that?

"Why don't you answer my question first, and I'll answer yours?Hm?" I chimed,twirling his locks devilishly.

He scowls. "We heavenly creatures don't age the same as you humans do."

"I asked for your age, Grimmjow." I copied his expression, showing a much more irritated scowl.

"Our vitality lasts way longer and we-"

"Age." I demanded.

He sighs, obviously not content with having to name his age. But I don't care, I want to know why he's avoiding it so much. "20"

"By human years."

He avoids eye contact and glares at the smokey ceiling. "166"

"Pedophile."I teased.

His glare shifts over from the ceiling and latches onto my mirth filled eyes. By then I'm laughing my ass off and he's smoking his opium again, his teeth grinding into the pipe's metallic lip. But I still understand that these things don't matter. And I know Grimmjow knows that, and I make sure that he knows that I'm just teasing him. It's what we feel for each other that was essential. And I believed everything that Grimmjow had promised me. I sealed my fate with him, and put all my soul's trust with him as well. I really, really really like him. To the point where it might just be love. But I'm not so sure considering I have never felt what love was like in my entire life. Not love, like family love, I already know what that was like. No. Love like the kind of love that had me thinking I could spend forever with this man. I don't care even if I just spend an infinite number of millenniums just laying here like this with him. I don't care. I'd still be content. That was the kind of love I meant.

But was that what love was like? I don't know. I'm just a teenager...

* * *

**...WHO'S AN UTTER COMPLETE VIRGIN!**

**Oh ichi, I lubb you. And to all you readers and reviews out there, I lubb you too~ **

**Maaaa, I felt as if their relationship was a bit impulsive and fast too. But who cares? Not me! Love at first sight exist in my story book! Well, atleast this one. I'm sorry if this section of the Author's Notes is really unreadable. I finished this fic at like 3 am and I'm to lazy to check this Author's Notes to see if everything's perfect. Bleh, blasphemy.**

**Oh yeah, Ichigo's 17 and a half. I forgot to mention that. And I really don't know how I can fit that in right now. My eyes are burning and my brain is almost cooked. **

**Spoilers for Chapter 6:**

**1-Yachiru will be there.**

**2-Ichigo will go back into the forest.**

**3-GRIMMJOW'S GON' SLAP A HOE(lols)**

**4- It'll come between the 5/5 or 5/9**

**Review please~! :3**


	6. The Predator & The Prey

**Author's Notes:** This chapter took me like two weeks to finish . Idk if that's short or long, but it felt pretty long to me since I kept experiencing writer's block. Bleh, School hasn't been treating me very well either with the homework and all. Anyways, on with the story~!

* * *

**VI. The Predator & the Prey**

"How are they doing?" I asked Urahara as he slid the door to the patients' room closed.

With his pointing finger, he gestured me to follow him, and I did so. We walked through the narrow hallway silently as we were careful not to disturb the resting patients. It was late evening, and the moon had already settled near the center of the sky, full yet not as bright as it usually were. I could barely see Urahara in front of me as we walked in the dim moonlight and unfortunately we had no lanterns to light. I followed Urahara until we reached the farther section of the facility where no patients were held. Someone was yelling in the distance, the person's voice jerky and obviously distraught. As we grew closer, I begun to recognize the voice and discovered that it was Shinji who was hollering.

"Cowards, all of you!" Shinji snarled.

The shoji slammed open and Shinji dashed out, bumping his shoulders into my own though he didn't bother to even notice me. Kensei followed after and though he was in no rush, he was irritated too, for whatever reason.

"We're canceling the Menosu versus Soul Society plan." Kensei explains. "Even though they're yakuzas, we can't bring ourselves to allow them to get involve with whatever is out there." He switches from looking at Urahara and turned his attention over to me. "It's worst than we thought. And we don't want to risk putting anymore people into danger, whoever may they be."

I nodded, actually grateful to hear this. With that, Kensei leaves to follow after Shinji. Me and Urahara walk into the room and I spot Yoruichi pouring a full cup of sake in her clay cup. I furrowed my brows.

"That inconsiderate bastard." Yoruichi grumbles with the brim barely touching her lips. "He only cares about ridding the town of the Soul Society. He doesn't think about the consequences, he just wants thing to happen within the snap of a finger. But the idiot is too ignorant to see that even the yakuzas are a bit like us too and have their own families in the town."

My heart compressed tightly from the strike of guilt. I was the one who made the plan up though. I wondered if this also made me just as selfish and ignorant as Shinji? Yoruichi notices my distress and places her cup down with a regretful sigh.

"Don't include yourself with Shinji, thinking you're on the same level with him. You're higher. Much higher. You were just blind in the moment of shock and desperation."

"That maybe true but it doesn't make right of what I've done." I said as I settled down in the cushion next to Urahara. "How are they?" I referred to Kenpachi and his group.

"They're well." She says.

"Ikkaku's health has improved, the internal wounds are healing and there were no considerable damages to any of the organs. Though I may not say the same thing about Kenpachi and Renji. Kenpachi's experiencing trauma from his lightning injury. Renji has a fever, but we were able to control and stabilize it." Urahara explains while pouring himself a cup as well.

Yoruichi offers me, but I decline, and she goes back to continuing the conversation."Even though thing's may sound like its smooth and okay, the Soul Society aren't taking their predicament very well like we had predicted. Rumors say that they're planning to attack again, this time they'll be sending one of their top fighters."

"We can't let them do that." I say. "More of them will get hurt if they do so. For one, they don't know what they're going up against. And two, it's a yokai. They have no experience in fighting yokais, so the chances of them being able to defending themselves are very slim."

"Well." Yoruichi's face hardens. "Are there any else options? And are you willing to inform them that their targets are not a group of bandits, but a yokai?"

I scowled. "No, but I'd rather they know the truth even though I'm not willing to volunteer myself and tell them personally."

She snorted. "Yeah, that's right."

"How about you, Yoru-chan?" Urahara offers. She glares at him but he still continues. "You have some connections with the Soul Society. Maybe you can pull some strings and get someone to at least think of the possibilities of a rogue yokai in the forest."

"That's ridiculous. Like I'd ever do that." Yoruichi chugs the cup down. "I'd spoil my reputation if I did so."

My scowl darkened. "You'd chose your reputation over the lives of many of the villagers?"

"Don't twist my words." She snarled. "I'll fucking skewer your head to your-"

A high-pitch wailing of a baby silenced Yoruichi. It was something so insignificant, a child's crying, and usually, it's hardly ever a surprise to hear a child crying in a medical shelter. But it was different right now, considering Urahara hasn't taken in any children or babies as patients for a while now, meaning there shouldn't be a child around here. Yet there was, in one of the farther rooms were most of the patients are being held. And with a cry like that, she'll not only wake them up, but she'll send them into the afterlife if she kept it up.

"What the hell?" Yoruichi leaped up and burst out the door while me and Urahara followed behind her.

As we tailed behind her, the voice grew louder, and the sleeping masses began to stir from their peaceful slumber. The wailing was unbearable. What kind of child cries like that? Yoruichi stopped at an open door which revealed the source of the crying from within the room. Tessai was already there, pressing a stranger down into the floor, while Ururu was trying to coax a small ball of pink. As I got closer though, I noticed that it wasn't a ball of pink but a child in lots of pink. I had recognized the child too. Yachiru was her name, she was around 6 years old and very small with vibrant pink hair, she was also Kenpachi's adopted daughter.

Yachiru clung against Kenpachi's snoring form, wailing and hitting his arm for him to wake up.

"Hey!" Renji snapped from the futon across from Kenpachi. "Just give her a damn mochi and shut her up!

"Mochi?" Yachiru sobbed.

"I'll get one for you, okay?" Ururu spoke softly.

Yachiru stopped her bawling, but she was now hiccuping and slobbering over her clean and flowing pink yukata. She rubbed her wet nose on the sleeve of her clothes and clung to Kenpachi's arm, muttering the nickname, "Ken-chan". Tessai was still holding a stranger captive, but he finally allowed the person's release at Urahara's saying. My eyebrows shot up at the sight of the familiar individual. Izuru Kira. I've seen him around. He was the messenger of the Soul Society, always doing the lame jobs, and bullied around by those who were 'tougher'. He didn't look like the yakuza type. Kira tucked his legs under him and kneel with his palms pressed to his knees. He had this daunted look on his face and his whole body seemed to quiver.

"I'm so sorry." Even his voice was shaking. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. Nor did I really mean to break in here like that but...but Yachiru-chan really wanted to see Kenpachi-sama. She started crying so much and I just couldn't...I couldn't...It was really hard to say no. And when we came here, I knew you wouldn't let us in to see Kenpachi-sama, and with her crying again, I had no choice but to break in." He arched his back and bowed. "I'm really sorry. Please forgive me."

Insufferable guilt. I felt like I was drowning in this pit..no, see of endless guilt with no signs of refuge. I was growing tired of staying like this. I was suffocating. It was killing me. Seeing Yachiru crying over her adoptive father like this, Kira so troubled, and the three patients lying around in bandages and damaged bodies. It was all too much. I want to run away.

Ururu arrives with the bowl of mochi for Yachiru and continues coaxing her to stay silent, which she obeys. Finally, of all the times that he should have already woken up, Kenpachi opens his eyes. He strains his head around to see Yachiru and gives her a wacky grin.

"Kenny!" She beams and shoves a mouthful of mochi into his mouth.

He swallows and coughs out the pieces of food that he had choked on. "Kami, Yachiru. Ease a bit."

His speech was a bit sloppy and slurred, but it was still comprehendable.

"You lost, didn't you?" Yachiru teased. "Gramps is going to look down on you when you come back if you don't fix it~!"

Kenpachi bristled. "Not a easy thing to do when your opponent is a powerful yokai."

While the tension in the air thickened Yachiru only made an excited gasp.

"Y-Yokai?" Kira stuttered.

Renji sighed, pressing a closed hand to his inked forehead. "Ikkaku, you awake?"

"Yeah." Ikkaku replies.

"Tell 'em what happened."

"Don't wanna." The bald man refused. "Stomach still hurts."

"Man up!" Yachiru commands.

Ikkaku sighs and it seems he chooses to do so since he didn't want to anger her. "Yeah, it was a yokai. Big one too. Nothing like any of us has ever see before. Yeah, we seen a few before in the forest, no biggie. But this one...he makes all the others look like worthless ants."

"Ichigo-" Urahara starts.

"No." I quickly answered him, knowing that his question would be if it were the same 'yokia' that I had encountered before.

The one that Ikkaku was describing was a yokai I have never met in my life before. Like him, I encountered yokai before, and similarly, they were all small and weak. I felt sick to my stomach just hearing about this demon.

"That's not all." He says. "This one can control fire."

Yoruichi steps forward. "If you don't mind, can you tell us the exact events of what happened?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you." Ikkaku says. "Our group and the kid and his father were going into the forest to find the bandits at the heart of the forest. Then the bumbling old man triggered a beehive and everything went amok. We tried to get away from the bees when we bumped into the freaky blue demon. Even though he threatened us, he wasn't the one to attack us and I guess we kinda outran him. I don't know how long, but we were traveling in that forest for what felt like hours. It was dark so we could hardly see anything, but we were able to see this girl...or what I thought was a girl. I swear, I thought it was a person but-" Ikkaku's body starts quaking uncontrollably.

Renji clears his throat. "I'll take over." And Ikkaku gives him a grateful nod. "It wasn't human. It must have been some kind of bait. Next thing we knew, we were attacked. Like he said, it was huge, and it look like some kind of fucked up animal. But we knew it wasn't some animal. It was a yokai. Next thing I knew, Ikkaku was knocked out and Captain Kenpachi and me were dodging fireballs."

"Fireballs?" Urahara looked entrance more than he should be.

"Yeah, fucking _fireballs_. Though, they were purple. Burned my right arm right up." Renji shakes his head as if he disbelieves it himself. I don't blame him. "Then, the monster is gone, and a bolt of lightning hits Kenpachi-sama right on his chest. That girl that we saw earlier appears again and she starts attacking us. In the midst of being attacked, Hisagi tries to revive Kenpachi-sama, and when he does there's this animal that starts to drag Kenpachi-sama off with his ankles in his teeth." Renji breathes and he's becoming anxious. "I tried to chase him off, but something knocks me right off my feet. And while I'm knocked off into the ground and that bitch stabs both of my palms into the ground with _my own blade_." He starts biting his thumb and refuses to speak any longer.

"What happened to Hisa-Hisa?" Yachiru wonders.

Renji says nothing and avoids looking at anyone in the eyes. Kenpachi groans.

"You got something wrong Renji." Kenpachi comments. "It wasn't a girl, it was a guy." He corrects. "And he took Hisagi. I tried to go after him, but the little bastard slashed my leg up."

"That's what you get for being so weak Ken-chan." Yachiru crossed her arms.

Kenpachi grumbles, ignoring Yachiru's lecturing. Yachiru was probably the only one so care-free right now. Well, it was a bit expected since she was just a little girl. But even Urahara, the ditzy overly optimistic idiot, had an aspect of seriousness at this moment. This descriptive explanation of the attack just sends the guilt I have in the deepest part of my mind go haywire. I'm shaking just like the others and I can't will myself to stop even if my life were to depend on it. Yoruichi places a a soft hand over my tensed shoulder and gives a reassuring squeeze. I loosed up slightly. But I still can't let go.

"I'll bring him back!" Kira declares.

Everyone turns there attention immediately to him. As we stared at him, gawking with opened jaws and wide-eyed, Kira takes on a fierce expression with eyes filled with exuberance and persistence. He sure as hell looks like a yakuza now.

"I swear to it, I'll bring him back." Kira says.

"Like hell you will." A new voice was added to the group.

We all turned around to see the new addition to our conversation to only realize that it was another co-captian of the Soul Society. Soifon. As far as I know, she was second strongest to the top captain Yamamoto. Shit.

"Soifon-sama!" Kira is overcome by shock and bows again. "What-"

Jinta interrupted him. "After Tessai restrained you, I left to get Soifon to pick you up."

"I'm sorry." Kira then lifts his head.

"What makes you think that you'll be able to get Hisagi back?" She sneers. "If Kenpachi was not able to do so, what makes you think you'll even come close to getting him back alone?"

"Hey!" Kenpachi snarled. "I was caught off guard!If I had know what the fuck I was getting into, I woulda slaughtered them!"

Soifon ignored Kenpachi's defense.

"I..." Kira trails off. "I don't know..."

"Exactly." Soifon crosses her arms. "You can't, not alone. That is why you will aid my division in the infiltration."

As Kira's face brightened at the new I frowned. More people are going... I can't let this happen.

"Do you even know what's going on here?" I asked raven-haired woman. "Kenpachi and his group weren't attacked by something normal, we all know that. It might just be more than a yokai," I struggled to keep my cover cool. "and if it is, what will you be able to do about it? Do you have any experience at all against them?"

"Kid." Soifon stares me down, but I kept scowling at her in disapproval. "You know nothing about me. I'm very well capable of fighting any kind of enemy, whether they may be yokai or not."

"Fine then!" I snapped. "Let me go with you too!"

Again, I was acting so brash and my senses were clouded by guilt and desperation. I wanted to make up for the things I have indirectly done to the Soul Society. And this may be one of the chances I would get.

"Ichigo!" Yoruichi howled. "I refuse to let you go! What are you thinking? Do you think that you can help them?"

"I have to." I murmured to her.

But she still declines. "I won't let you go. I'll tell your father, he won't let this go so easily."

"Yoruichi please," I plead and she still rejects my choice to join them.

"I approve." Soifon says and receives a malicious death glare from Yoruichi. She ignores her. "We'll leave at the break of dawn. The rendezvous point will be at the fringes of the forest. Don't be late, Ichigo Kurosaki." It felt a bit ominous that she knew my name.

But I knew that almost everyone knew about our family since we were top herb and plant suppliers. And it may also be because my father used to be a guide for the shrine back in the past. But I'm still creeped out.

* * *

_-Morning: Rendezvous Point-_

It wasn't very surprising when I woke up at 4 in the morning with Isshin watching over me. Really, it wasn't. I knew that Yoruichi would tell him, and this was his more subtle way of trying to keep me from going. The other plan must be to tie me up until the meeting period with Soifon would pass.

"What?" I scowled up at him while I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"I'm not an idiot Ichigo." He said with his voice less cheerful than the usual.

"Haven't said you were one lately." I replied.

Isshin sighed. "You know...usually, if you were ever to go into the forest, I'd let it happen. But this time now, with what everything is happening, I can't allow you to go. Not even if you're not alone."

"I have to. I did this to Kenpachi and his group, I've triggered this series of events among the Soul Society, so I have to at least try and help with the situation somehow."

"Is that worth risking your life Ichigo?" He asked. "Think properly about this. Would you want to leave this family behind? Would you want to leave your lover behind?"

That last sentence frazzles me. "What, old-man how you-"

"I may not know who it is, but I know you're not the type to go around to anyone. Knowing my son, you can't go into a brothel or whore house without crying from embarrassment." He beams.

"Idiot!" I slammed my hand into the center of his face and pulled the covers to hide the red tinting my cheeks.

"Ichigo." He calls, his tone grave and flat. "If you really want to go, then I'll have to go with you too."

"I can't let you go too." I frowned showing my face again.

"It's that or you don't go at all."

"If we both go and if we die, then Karin and Yuzu won't have anyone left." I hissed, making sure to not wake my younger sisters.

"Then don't go." He says. "I don't want to lose you like how I lost your mother."

I bit my lip at the mentioning of my mother and glared at Isshin. It was unfair for him to use my mother's death against me in this argument. "It's not like I'll die though." I said. "I can't. The others didn't."

"And what makes you think you're so special?" Isshin questioned.

I can name a few. But I won't say it to my father, not yet anyways. So I just decided to leave his question unanswered and countered him with a question of my own.

"If I can't do this, then how will I repay for what I've done?"

Isshin sighs and I guess that he can't answer this question. "So much like your mother."

"Stop bringing mother into this." I snapped. "You just might jinx things..."

"Don't say that Ichigo." Isshin hunched over at my last comment.

I rolled my eyes and shove the covers away. "I'm still going." Isshin said nothing. "Please don't follow me."

While I prepared my departure, Isshin kept quite, which surprised me very much. I was expecting him to either tackle me down and tie me up or wake up my younger sisters and have them cry and beg me to stay. But instead, Isshin sat beside my fixed futon, legs cross and eyes closed like he was meditating. Or thinking up some plan. After gathering my weapons, I took one last glance at father before leaving. I didn't expect things to have gone so smoothly. And I still fully doubt that it would. _What is that old-goat thinking?_

I made it to the rendezvous point minutes before the sun had rose. Kira, Soifon, and some of her loyal subordinates were already there waiting. They seemed anxious, and at first, I thought it was because they were waiting for me. But even after I had joined their small circle, there was a cluster of impatience in the air.

"What's wrong?"

Soifon glared at me."It's your father."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "What did he do?"

"He didn't arrive at the appropriate time, that's what!" She hissed at me. _Wait, what?_ "He was suppose to come here along with you."

"I'm sorry, wha-"

"Sorry for the wait!" Isshin beamed out all rainbows and sunshine.

He was skipping towards us, grinning at me with a victorious gleam in his eyes, and saluted Soifon. I kicked his shin.

"You're late." Soifon gnarled.

Isshin gave a dramatic sigh. "I would have been earlier if my son hadn't turn my requests towards him into a series of interrogations." I kicked his shin again in the same spot and grunted when he hissed in pain.

Soifon rolled her eyes. "We have no time to witness a family's quarrel. Marechiyo, carry." She tossed her pack into the hands of the round henchman, who fumbles the pack before hanging it over one of his ample shoulders, and following behind after Soifon with Kira and the other subordinates, me and my father trailing after them.

Soifon lit her lantern and the subordinates copied after her. It was later on when we were completely within the forest's balmy darkness that me and my father decided to light our own lanterns.

"What the hell?" I hissed at him as I raised the lantern up. "Why did you come? After all I've told you?"

"I should be saying the same thing to you." He sighed. "After Yoruichi told me that you'll be entering the forest with Soifon's group, Soifon herself visited me and made a request for me to guide her group around. I accepted."

"Damn it." I pressed the palms of my hands against my eye sockets and squeezed my eyes tight. "You better hope that we make it out of here alive for Karin and Yuzu."

Isshin nodded. "Of course we're making it out alive. This time, all of us."

"You're making amends with karma too then?"

"Yes. I want to turn my karma to good again before it comes at me with some bad news." Isshin sighed.

I snorted. "You sound so religious all of a sudden."

"With everything going topsy-turvy, it's expected to try and cling to your last resort."

"And being religious is you're last resort?"

"Second to last. My last resort is to protect my family. Including you Ichigo."

"It's alright." I scoffed at my father. "I'll be alright. It's you and your tendency to attract rabid forest rodents is what we should both worry about."

Isshin laughed, and I was glad that my small joke was able to break the tension between him and me. I was still frustrated at him for volunteering his life again. But I tried to not let this bother me too much. Where we were wasn't the exact place I should be contemplating on my emotions.

"You guys done talking there? Because you're both making a generous amount of noise for unwanted creatures to find us." Soifon glowered.

Isshin brought his voice to an almost inaudible whisper."Yes ma'am. We're d-"

A malignant shrill of something inhuman reverberated through the forest. The forest shook, quaking everything from the shivering trees to vibrating within my bones. Once the cry subsided, everything stopped completely, including our breathing. My heart was pounding loudly in my ears and I felt like my head would explode from the pressure in my skull. Everyone stayed rooted to their spot. It was silent though it didn't mean that we were safe. It meant we were being preyed on. Something was waiting out there for the perfect opportunity.

"Hisagi-san!" Kira cried.

I swung my head to the direction from which Kira cried from. And yes, there was Hisagi standing in the distance. From the glow of our lanterns we could see him staring back at us, his face lightly spotted with purple and blue, eyes hollow and contradicting that odd smile he had plastered on him.

"Hisagi-san!" Kira stepped forward, his excitement and relief soaring, just before Marechiyo blocked his path with a sheathed sword. "Marechiyo-san-" Kira started.

"Wait." Marechiyo advised. "It might be a trap."

"What do you mean a trap?" Kira hissed.

"Do you not remember what Renji had said before? They saw someone before they were attacked, and he believed it to be bait. Our situation might be no better than theirs." Soifon explains as she readied her katana. "Shuhei. If that really is you, come forward."

Hisagi tilted his head to the side while closing his eyes. "Can't."

"Can't?" I spoke out. He tilts his head to the other side just as I had said that. "Are you injured?"

"Can't." He repeats.

His eyes then opened and flashed with life. There was emotion in them again. Lots of it. His eyes screamed pure, cold-blooded fright.

_'Help me.'_

"Oh god." I loaded an arrow to my bow. "Something's got Hisagi."

"Got him?" Kira questions hysterically. "You mean like he's stuck on-"

"No! Something like a creature, I don't know, he seems like he's being possessed."

"Ichigo, don't shoot at him!" Isshin yelled.

"I know that!" I yelled back.

But I kept my bow loaded. There was that silence again. But this time, there was Kira's hyperventilating to keep the muted situation company. My eyes swept around anxiously, my breath hitching at the slight movements of shadows. The lantern flickered, tricking my eyes, and playing silly mind games with my paranoid mind. Shit, my hands were already sweating.

"Kukuku..." A malicious voice trilled through me. "I'd never thought my trap would've been seen through so easily. My oh my, I've found some clever ones, haven't I?"

The voice sent up a bile stuck in my throat. Sweat trickled down my neck to my back as I shuddered in horror. Purple clouds appeared out of nowhere, licking the ground in ominous wisps, swirling past our lower limbs. Suddenly, it felt like the air was burning and I couldn't bring air into my lungs again. Where ever those clumps of purple haze touched on my body it stung like fire. I hissed and fanned the clouds away with my bow. Miasma. Isshin nudged me with a clothe in his hand and gestured me to wear it like a mask like he did. After I followed his instructions, I was able to breath again, but the burning on my exposed legs didn't cease.

"Ahhh..." The menacing voice made Ichigo flinch.

The owner of that voice was now exposed in the place of where Hisagi no longer stood. And just as he expected, it was a yokai. A _big_ one. It was also very familiar. An unusual tentacle wavered from the top of it's chalky, mask-like face. Sodding red eyes torn right through me and I found myself on the verge of collapsing over my legs. It's giant, beastly body shook with amusement as it laughed while analyzing me.

"You're that kid." The sign of recognition in his voice stabs right through me like a jagged blade.

"And you're that monster." I breathed out with a voice so weak and ragged."Grand Fisher."

A disgusting stream of laughter rolled from it's vile mouth. "Knew you wouldn't forget."

Rage, terror, and disgust swallowed me whole as I briefly relived the most scarring event of my childhood. Witnessing my mother's death. Grand Fisher was one of the few strongest demons of the Forest of Menosu, he was also a dirty trickster. He used that tentacle of his to lure in prey then slaughters them, sometimes not even eating them whole but instead he left them there to either waste away or get eaten by other creatures of the forest. Even before the event, my mother warned me multiple times of the demons that lived in the forest, and she never left Grand Fish out of her warnings. But still, I fell victim to the despicable yokai.

The bile clogged in my throat felt as if it was growing bigger and I was gradually losing my ability to breath again. The memories replayed before me again and again. It was then that I discovered that this choice of entering the forest like this was the most idiotic thing I have _ever _decided in my whole entire life. Grand Fisher's crackling laughter. My mother's liquid screams. The blood staining my vision and everything around me. And her mauled corpse splattered before me. Whatever it was that was keeping me standing had dispersed and I had crumbled down on the ground as a convulsing mess. The bile was gone, my stomach was cramping and emptied itself out through my mouth. I had fallen sick from the terrible memories of my mother's murder.

"Ichigo!" I heard Isshin call my name. He was telling me to put my mask back on, but my stomach was still heaving although I am completely sure I'm empty.

"Weak as ever." Grand Fisher taunts. "It's a wonder how you had ever survived until now. It was a waste for your mother to sacrifice her life for yours. Hell only knows why she decided to save you."

"Shut up." I hissed.

My stomach was no longer cramping, but now there was a burning sensation searing through me, filling my body not with convulsing fear but with an overwhelming rage. My emotions were soaring and I swore, my head must have exploded at that moment because everything had went black.

* * *

_-Shirosaki-_

_Free. Free! **Free!**_

The person who was once Kurosaki Ichigo was now hunched over the ground with his body quivering with withheld laughter. Though his arms were shaking, he was able to push himself off the ground with very much ease, his posture suddenly mellow and loose. He kept his eyes closed, but it was evident that he appeared agitated. Isshin was crying out to Ichigo, but he failed to reach the teenager. At this moment, he was no longer Kurosaki Ichigo, he wasn't his son, he was nobody. A nobody by the name of Hichigo Shirosaki.

Shirosaki rolled his head around over his neck, relishing the tiny clicks of his spine and the gentle pull of each muscle. '_How long has it been since I was able to actually do that? '_

"What's this?" The offensive yokai who called himself Grand Fisher hummed to him. " A change of heart? You're not going to wallow in the mud anymore?"

"Ya didn't hear me before?" Shirosaki kept his eyes closed, knowing that just looking at the yokai might trigger his temper. "I said shut up."

Instead of reacting as if he were offended like normal, Grand Fisher just kept his eyes on the orange haired boy. He noticed there was something different about the young mortal's voice. Or maybe just something different in him in general. But how? He was a vomiting mess curled up on the ground not too long ago. Was it possible that the change of emotions had triggered a transformation in him. It couldn't be. "That voice..." Grand Fisher trailed off.

"Ichigo!" Ichigo's father called out in a panicked tone.

"Ichigo, don't do anything stupid now." Soifon warned.

But Shirosaki didn't turn to their attention. It wasn't him that they were calling to. It was Ichigo, and this wasn't Ichigo, so their calls were meaningless to him. Shirosaki opened his eyes, revealing a set of contrasting eyes with golden irises surrounded by a deep chromatic black. A maniacal smile curled on his face.

"Who are you?" There was a defensive tone to his voice and you could tell Grand Fisher was panicking a bit.

"I dun have much time, and I'm not gon' to waste my time givin' ya some pathetic introduction." The miasma started to clear away from him, creating a medium sized circle of visible earth. "Instead, I'll have ta kill you."

Grand Fisher scoffed. "Someone such as yourself dares to think that you can actually bring an end to me? How laughable."

But before the yokai could even utter a jovial laugh, a painful wail replaced it as his tentacle gushed a black liquid from its severed end. Grand Fisher scrambled backwards, his vermillion eyes wide with panic and mouth still agape with the cry of pain. His eyes frantically focused on Shirosaki as he fumbled over his own thoughts on how he received the injury. Shirosaki was still standing in his same position, the only change is that his sword was released and raised over his shoulders.

"H-How?" Grand Fisher gawked.

The grin plastered on Shirosaki's face widened, his eyes wide and full of insanity and blood-lust. His allies looked on from their safe distance, wondering if this was really Ichigo. Of course, they don't know that it's not, they couldn't. This was someone else in Ichigo's body.

"Enough of yer meaningless talkin'." Shirosaki started swinging his blade absent mindfully. "Just fight ya shit head mongrel."

"A shit head mongrel you say?" Grand Fisher growled. The leaking of his inflicted appendage had already ceased, signing that his regeneration was already kicking in. "For someone such as you to insult me and also bring me harm, I'll end you! You'll wish I had killed you with that woman. With the new powers that my master has granted me, I'll rid this world of your worthless existence!"

The air crackled around him, the temperature was beginning to raise, and the glow from the lanterns begun to burn brighter. The fine hairs along his back raised at the anticipation of the on coming danger nearing his way. But he was a second too late. Pain seared through his left leg as he attempted to dodge last minute. A fire ball, one by the size of his fist and blazing lavender, had whizzed passed him and only barely manage to graze the calf of his left leg. But then again, it was enough to slow him down. '_I ended up wounding his body.' _Shirosaki was only spared half a minute to recover from the pain and shock of his injury before having to dodge yet another fireball. This time, it was larger, yet he was still able to dodge it without receiving another injury.

"Ichigo!" Isshin called out and Shirosaki noticed that he himself was not the only one being targeted.

Ichigo's allies were also dodging the flying infernos. At this situation, he couldn't tell if they were doing alright, and he couldn't spare or risk anytime to check. He was very much occupied with the set of blazing orbs tailing after him. Each time an ball of flame was extinguished after failing to hit Shirosaki and plummeting into the ground, the sizes increased. From what used to be the size of his fist were now fireballs three times the size of his own head charging after him. So far, Shirosaki was successful in dodging each and everyone one of them, but he was slowing down due to the pain in his calf. _'If I drag this on any longer, I won't be able to finish this bastard off in time, and that little shit will be coming back soon.' _

Grand Fisher was on full offense, giving Shirosaki every ounce of his overwhelming power. And indeed, it was overwhelming. Shirosaki was finding it very difficult to switch into an offense, and instead, he was stuck in defense as he dodged multiple bombardments of flames. He found a small opening towards Grand Fisher, and took it, aiming for the clearing of his neck. But it seems as though this was what Grand Fisher had expected. As Shirosaki dove in for the kill, Grand Fisher caught the weapon between his achromatic white teeth. _'Shit.' _Shirosaki clicked his tongue and quickly abandoned his weapon and dodged the on coming counter attack.

The blaze consumed his clothed elbow, forcing him to dig the inflicted area into the soggy earth. How convenient it was to be surround by wet earth at a time like this.

"I still wonder how you had manage to wound me without coming near me." Grand Fisher chortled as played with the floating fireballs in his talon. "Or yet to show any signs that you had attack me. And now I'm wondering, was it really you who had done that? If so, where's that little trick then? Try and show me ag-"

"Alright, I'll show ya then." Shirosaki went for the second weapon that he had, the bow and arrows.

Arrows weren't the perfect one-hit kill weapon for slaying a creature like Grand Fisher. Although Shirosaki was more than able to hit the yokai directly in the center of its forehead, the arrow wasn't sharp enough to actually penetrate the dense skin and bone of his skull, and he can't put all his strength into the arrow. His only hope in finishing off Grand Fisher was that katana, which was still clamped between the set of teeth. Shirosaki loaded the arrow and launched it, aiming for the wavering tentacle that was verging the completion of its healing. The arrow met its target and pierced the appendage, leaving the wound bleeding profoundly. As Grand Fisher flailed with pain again Shirosaki made his move for the next step in his plan. His blade. Grand Fisher had dropped it upon receiving the arrow, and while he was distracted, Ichigo intended to take the chance to retrieve the katana again.

He skid past the fluttering fireballs and slid under Grand Fisher before grasping the hilt of the blade. He then swiveled himself around, aimed, and swung the blade towards his distracted enemy. From the digastric area below his jaw and through his skull. And then it's over.

But his blade paused in midair. His arms were shaking as he struggled to move them, but it was rendered useless as the bleeding tentacle of Grand Fisher tightened around his two limbs.

"How sly of you." Grand Fisher muses.

He yanks Shirosaki out from underneath him and flings him into a tree. As Shirosaki chokes from having the air knocked out from his lungs and Isshin scurries for him as the flames had momentarily stopped attacking him.

"Ichigo, we must retreat." Isshin was clamoring on of how they should leave, if he was alright, that this was too dangerous, and what gave him the idea of attacking this yokai. Correction. This wasn't towards him, but Ichigo, for the sake of that boy's well-being, of the body that he was currently possessing.

"Shut up ya geezer." Shirosaki slurred, his voice all raspy from coughing.

He needed to finish this though. Retreating wasn't an option, because someone like Grand Fisher wouldn't allow his prey to escape. He was a predator which once he lures his prey, the only escape he would allow is death, anything other than that is impossible. No, actually, it wasn't exactly impossible. But tonight, Shirosaki had his mind set to the only one who would be dying tonight is that yokai.

"Ichigo," Isshin continued " right now isn't the time for us to quarrel."

"I'm not quarreling anythin'." Shirosaki snarled and at the corner of his eye he noticed the arrow that was once lodged in Grand Fisher's tentacle had clatter down onto the ground. The wound was healing and he was getting ready for another attack. "Move."

He shoved Isshin off to the side and recovered back onto his feet. The fireballs were back at attacking and he wondered if the old-man was safe. He couldn't bring himself to check or worry for long though. That wasn't what his instincts were telling him. His instincts were telling him to kill and survive. And that's what he planned on doing.

"Ichigo!" _Just shut up._

Shirosaki gracefully evaded all of the flaming orbs and began to close in on Grand Fisher for another attack. Grand Fisher narrowed his blood red eyes and opened his mouth, a purple spark crackling on the tip of his tongue. _'He breathes fire too?'_ Shirosaki cussed harshly in his mind.'_Shitshitshit.' _

Purple flames spewed out from the yokai's mouth in a wide arc. He was too near. Dodging it was impossible right now for he had no way to go and dodge such the attack. Shirosaki held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut in the expectation of the unbearable pain that he was expecting. Nothing. Instead, he felt a sharp pain on his arm as he was thrown harshly to the side. Shirosaki yelped. He then scrambled onto his elbows but collapsed over his left one. The elbow must have dislocated somehow from the impact of the fall.

Grand Fisher let out a delighted cackle and Shirosaki twisted around to glare at him but his eyes catch on something that breaks him. Something within the subconscious of Shirosaki's mind shattered. His whole body froze over as he watched Ichigo's father crumble down to his knees before collapsing onto the sodden earth. Half of Isshin's kimono was burnt off and his skin was spotted with charred bits of fabric and pink patches of damaged skin. Isshin eyes were close and Shirosaki wished it was because he was knocked out unconscious from the shock of getting burned.

Shirosaki's brain was now reeling as something from within his mind went into turmoil. He was breaking. His skull felt like it was splitting in two. The horrid scream escaping his mouth couldn't even fathom the pain he was suffering. His screams had become of something mutant, inhuman, alien. His cries was a merge of his own voice along with Ichigo's, and he had realized that the other was struggling to take over again.

_'The little shit head's trying to take his body back.'_ Shirosaki snarled.

Shirosaki dug his fingers into the moist dirt, anchoring himself and desperately finding a way to stay. He couldn't leave yet, no, not when things were left undone. He had yet to finish off the yokai. There was still danger here. He wasn't done. But no matter how he had tried, Shirosaki's possession over Ichigo's body was slowly slipping. His perception of this world was fading as he was forcefully dragged back into Ichigo's farthest subconscious, consumed by the hollow void and gloomy darkness.

* * *

**So overall, all of the characters who have a slang are just lazy bastards who can't bother to pronounce things correctly :3**

**Okay, break time~**

**This chapter was long, like seriously long. Waaay longer than I had expected it to be. So I had to break it into two separate chapters because I have this thing with making really long chapters into two. Idk why. OCD maybe? So instead of this update being the single chapter we had all expected, it's a double upload today! Although, I felt as if the battle scene was kinda lame ._. Oh well. Shirosaki will come back later on. And shit will be cray. **


	7. Survival

**Author's Notes: Just to remind you! This was a double-update! **Things might sound brutal here... :3 Enjoy!

* * *

**VII. Survival**

My body was frozen and cold, locked in a daze of so much pain, both emotional and physical. I was rendered useless as I did nothing but gulp down air in panicked rhythms and stare at my father's still body. Fire crackled in the air, illuminating everything in this sinister, light purple hue. I was surrounded by the sound of blazing fire, pain-filled groaning with an occasional outcry, and the baleful laughter of that monster, Grand Fisher. The air reeked of burnt earth and flesh and I wondered how many lives were lost now, and how many more will be after he's done with us. I was sure he wouldn't let anyone escape. Including me. I'll die here for sure and I silently begged the heavens to let my father live. We can't both leave Karin and Yuzu alone now.

There's this nagging feeling in my gut, telling me to move, to do something. I have to. I must. I slowed my breathing down to normal and readjusted my clothe mask to filter out the returning miasma. Slowly, one by one, I'm encouraging my body to move with some unknown source of support from within me. I turned my head, tearing my wide eyes from my father's unconscious body to examine the rest of my surroundings.

Never in my life had ever witness something so catastrophic. All the raids the town suffered from, the droughts, and the turf wars. Those were nothing compared to this. Bodies were scattered at random, some burnt and charred to crisps and others were writhing from pain and exhaustion. The air was filled with a purplish-gray hue of what would be smoke and miasma fusing together. While those who were still alive were sprawled around the ground weak and wary, amethyst colored flames loomed above us, and I knew what was going to happen to us. He was going to torch our bodies until all that remained were small specks of ash.

"To tell you the truth, it's a shame that I'd have to waste such a perfect amount of nutrients. If it were my choice, I would have just consumed you all, make your death quick and just snap your necks before eating all of you. But, orders are orders, and it's a must that I follow what my master says and eradicate you all."

Grand Fisher's mouth opened again but this time it clicked wider. The flames that were once looming over us were now sucked towards the yokai, clumping together at the center of his mouth, building up into this massive sphere of purple inferno. It was big enough to obliterate us all for sure and hopeless to dodge even if any of us were actually able to stand or run away from here.

_Move._ I pushed my body up on shaking arms and ignored the seething pain of the broken arm as I forced my will to move further. _Come on damn it_.

I quickly retrieved my fallen bow, loaded the arrow from the quiver that was still hung around my torso, and aimed. My arm was screaming at me as I did this, and it takes most of my will-power not to yelp at the feeling. I spotted an opening and targeted the corner of Grand Fisher's mouth where the flame didn't obscure and the only weak-spot visible to me from his front. I wasted no time and launched, the same time he released the monstrous fireball. I knew my arrow had hit it's target when a blood curling screech rung in my ears, but I had no time to celebrate as I watched the purple fireball hurling towards me. My breath is caught in my lungs as I watch it grow nearer and nearer, my foot are rooted to the ground and I make no movement because I know all resistance is futile, and my fate to death by immolation has now become inevitable.

Now I thinking of all the things I've done, and I'm silently apologizing to everyone. To the Soul Society. To the people of Urahara Clinic and yes, even the Ishida Clinic. To my little sisters, my father, and then my mother. And most of all, to Grimmjow. And just by the thought of him, somehow, I'm beginning to feel as if I'm wrong. That I'm not going to die yet, that I can't.

_Blue. _It was a small flash, but it was all that it took for my hopes to soar and my lungs start working again. It was that little flash, something that had seemed so insignificant in the perception of anyone else was yet so vital to me, it had me thinking that I was all wrong about dying here.

"Since when can you cough out fire, Fisher?" Grimmjow growled.

And just as his voice rumbled out of absolutely nowhere, blue sparks crackle around the nearing orb of fire and it suddenly collapse upon itself and dispersed into black smoke. But even after the smoke settles, I can't see Grimmjow. Was he hiding?

"Jaegerjaquez." Grand Fisher was shaking with anger and what seemed like fear as blood oozed out of his mouth from the open wound I gave him.

His scarlet eyes are wildly searching for Grimmjow as he attempts to build up another enormous fireball, but he fails when his jaw refuses to click open any farther due to the gushing wound. Grand Fisher attempts to fish out the arrow stuck in his jaw with his tentacle, but then there's a discharge of lightning in front of the yokai, and Grimmjow's there seizing the writhing appendage in his iron grip. Next thing I knew, Edrad was there, along with four others to join him.

Grand Fisher is frozen while his mouth is left hanging in a silent scream as the ugly black liquid continued to leak from his half opened mouth. I can't see the front of Grimmjow, so I can't see his face, but I can guess by his tensed shoulders and shaking form that he is beyond furious. I suddenly found myself swallowing with a dry mouth as a twinge of fear nicks me.

"Ya didn't answer my question, yokai." Grimmjow rips out the tentacle and tosses it to the side where it starts flailing like a fish out of water.

Grand Fisher screams, literally, and the volume of his outcry pains my ears so much that even after I squeezed my palms against my ears I could hear a high-pitch ringing along with his inhuman wailing. He's scrambling around, blinded by pain and fright as he bumps into trees, the base of where his tentacle once protruded was now spurting out the black liquid in steady pulses. The four new comers, which I had assumed to by Grimmjow's allies, surrounded Grand Fisher and pinned his talon-like paws to the ground with their blades. Grimmjow presses his foot against the face of Grand Fisher as he stares him down.

"Answer me now, before I tear ya to bits. One by fuckin' one." Grimmjow snarled viciously.

"I'll never betray my master." Grand Fisher replied quite boldly, but his voice was trembling.

"Ahh, ya have a master?" Grimmjow tilted his head as he sneered. He raised a finger and gauged it into one of the yokai's red eyes. "Mind givin' me a name?"

Grand Fisher let out another wail of pain as he struggled against the blades that confined him to the ground. Grimmjow flicked the remaining eye from his black tinted fingered and obliterated it with a single burst of his flame before the organ had even touched the ground. After his yowling has ceased, Grand Fisher was panting heavily from his mouth, his entire face painted in his black blood.

"R..." Grand Fisher struggled out. "Refuse."

"Then say good-bye to you other eye."

Before Grimmjow raised his finger, I screamed out to him. "Stop!"

And he did so. "He isn't somethin' ya should take pity on, Ichigo." He wasn't looking at me when he said this. He body remained in it's same position beforehand, his hand half-way raised and poised to attack Grand Fisher's other eye.

"I know that but-"

"Yer willin' to save this filthy demon? The exact same one that had attempted to kill you and your group?"

"That's not what I meant to say." I growled out. "I don't care if that bastard dies it's just..." I struggled with the words. "No one should suffer like that, not even him."

Grimmjow let a dark chuckle as he turned his head slightly to glance back at me. "Too bad this is my only way to get answers out of this useless shit." And he skewered Grand Fisher's remaining eye with his middle finger.

"Damn it!" As Grand Fisher howled and gurgled out a cry soaked in blood, I loaded my bow and shot at Grand Fisher's weak spot, the back of his throat.

One of Grimmjow's allies swiftly blocked it with his steel plated skeletal hand.

"Please do not interfere." The stranger said.

"I'd tell you the same thing." I snarled and reloaded my bow.

"Ichigo, just stop this bull shit. This is no longer your fight. We're involved too, and now that we caught him, we have to get some answers to our questions." Grimmjow snarled as he glanced back at me again. What the fuck?

"That's fucking low of you Grimmjow." I snapped.

"This is reality Ichigo. And it's the only way we can get answers from him now. I'm not risking the time or opportunity and cage him and get a higher being to look into his head. I need answers now." He focused back at Grand Fisher. "Next is your tongue."

"Refuse." Grand Fisher croaked.

"Fine." Grimmjow shrugged and prod the jaws further open with his own blade.

"Stop." I swallowed.

Grand Fisher started to force his jaw shut, but Grimmjow's katana was propping his jaws apart and digging into the inside of his mouth. He then yelped when Grimmjow reached for the tongue.

"Talk!" Grand Fisher slurred and Grimmjow retrieves his weapon from the yokai's mouth. "I'll talk..."

"Well?" Grimmjow snarled impatiently.

"My master is-" Grand Fisher then started flailing again, this time, he was able to shake the blades that pinned him and loosened them.

Grand Fisher gave a cry of victory. Before anyone else could react, purple flames descended from above.

"Fuckin' shit!" Grimmjow snarled at the sky.

Grimmjow raised his arms, one curled open as the other supported it by the wrist, and he pointed them up at the falling sea of fire. A blue spark clicked in the center of his open palm before a narrow stream of sapphire flames shot out towards the flaring blazes. The blue stream began to waver and pulse, compressing and decompressing in strange rhythms as it blasted the thick layer of purple fire. On contact, cerulean consumed lavender, and all the flames dispersed leaving us in a thick cloud of scalding smoke.

As I stumbled around the obscuring have, I bumped into Kira who was stumbling around in panic. "Hisagi-san?" He squeaked, but then frowned when he noticed it was me.

I frowned too, for I had forgotten about him. He was the reason why we all came here in the first place, and I had completely forgotten about him. I shook my head at Kira, silently telling him that I saw no signs of him.

"Sonofabitch!" It was unmistakeable that it was Grimmjow who had howled in infuriated anguish.

The smoke was swept away by an unknown force and retreated into the woods, revealing the empty spot where Grand Fisher once stood. And by observing Grimmjow and his allies current distress, Grand Fisher must have escaped. Grimmjow's nostrils were flared as he heaved air in and out through his nose. He then ran an ash smear hand through his messy hair in a jerky motion and recomposed himself to an almost calm demeanor. His eyes locked onto me and I couldn't help but jump.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Grimmjow growled at me. "What the hell made ya decide ta come out here? I thought ya already knew how dangerous it was in here? Did ya need me ta warn ya as well?"

"I needed to make up for what I've done."

"What you've done?" Grimmjow snapped. "Just for that, you threw yourself blindly into danger, just so you could redeem yourself?" Grimmjow clutched my collar. "You've gotta clean the shit outta yer head and get your priorities straight."

"I didn't just do this for my own conscience." I snapped back. "I wanted to help them too! I wasn't just going to sit around and let this happen!"

"And neither was I!"

"Then where the fuck were you when we were having our asses burned off?"

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. "I was getting permission..." and he trailed off.

"And we ended up attacking before we were able to receive permission from the higher gods." The man with the skeletal hand finishes off for Grimmjow. "Because we ignored the importance of a god's permission to kill a high yokai, Grimmjow will receive a penalty. Again."

"Shut it Shawlong." Grimmjow muttered before releasing my kimono and turning to the other direction to regain his composure. "Anyways, we couldn't wait that long too hear whether it was acceptable or not."

"_You_ couldn't." A short guy grumbles, receiving a warning glare from Grimmjow.

Grimmjow was still furious, and I dared not to say anything else that might set him off. But here comes Kira, shaking like a jitterbug, and panting in a way that might not be healthy for him.

"Hisagi-san." He croaked out. All of a sudden, he's crying, not exactly bawling his eyes out, but it's still disturbing. "It t-took him! It took him again!" His knees buckled under him and collapsed onto the ground.

Oh Kami, Kira please stop crying.

"P-lease help him." Kira hiccuped.

Grimmjow's jaws flexed as he glared down at Kira's quivering form. And as if that last sentenced snapped something in him, his hands lashed forward , grabbed the poor blonde by the collar of his kimono, and slapped him. Grimmjow restricted himself though, because if he hadn't, Kira's head might've flown right off his head.

Kira's sniveling stopped and he was stilled by the pain and shock of the slap he received from Grimmjow. His cheek was already swelling up and blood trickled from his cracked lip.

"Shut yer bitch ass up." Next thing is, Grimmjow's hollering out orders to his allies, or underlings. He ordered them to return everyone back outside of the forest, dead or alive, but aid those who were severely injured. "Leave no explanations for anyone." But I knew that everyone who had survive and who had witness the quarrel between me and Grimmjow will have load of things to ask and accuse me of.

"Grimmjow, I-"

Grimmjow yanks me forward by the arm that is not damaged, but I stumble a bit over my injured leg. "Yer coming with me."

"But-"

"Shut it." He growls. But then he looks me over with his scalding hot eyes and sighs. His voice is milder this time. "You'll come with me. I have somethings I want to discuss with you. And I'll heal your injuries a bit."

I gnawed at my lip a bit and wondered what was it that he wanted to talk about. Was it this whole situation that just happened? Or is it something else?

"Okay." I murmured.

Later on, I'm with Grimmjow again, in his shrine, alone. None of us had spoken a word to each other since we left the mini battlefield earlier. Instead, we stayed silent as he applied some odd cream to my burnt calf and bandaged it up. At first, he didn't even give me a warning if the ointment might hurt or not, and I ended up cringing like an idiot when it didn't sting a bit. It was only until he got to my elbow that he started to speak.

"This'll hurt." Grimmjow said.

"Yeah." I braced myself and it seems like Grimmjow's doing the same as well.

After experiencing the unbearable pain of having my elbow lock back into place, he fixed up a nice and comfortable splint and sling form a elbow. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it had been. A minor dislocation, nothing major like a complete one. Once I got over the lingering pain I noticed Grimmjow's cyan eyes boring holes at me as he stares. I tried not to squirm under his gaze, but I can't help but feel so uncomfortable.

"Sorry." I said.

"For what?" Grimmjow grumbles.

"For making things so difficult for you." I explained. "I was thinking selfishly, and like you said, I need to get my priorities straight. I wasn't thinking clearly, and all I could worry about was my own conscience, not about how much I was worrying people by putting my life in so much danger." I turned my head away from Grimmjow to make sure I couldn't see him staring at me in my peripheral vision. "And now, my father is wounded and I don't even know if he'll be okay."

"It's o-"

"Don't say it's okay Grimmjow. You know full well that what I've done wasn't okay."

"Well fuck, yer not perfect." He snapped. "So what if what you did was bad? You're still alive right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Pay with yer life." Grimmjow replied. "Continue livin', and save lives with those medicines you and yer family makes. In turn for all those lives that have died under yer indirect doings, you will save lives and make up for all those lost lives. Don't throw away yer life around like that so recklessly." He grabs my chin and forces our eyes to lock. "Do you have any idea how many lives you have an affect on?"

"I do."

"Then don't ever do somethin' so fuckin' stupid again." His eyes are searching me. "Okay?"

"Okay."

He releases me and leans back as he lets out a sigh of relief.

"Ya know I'm sorry too." he catches the flash of confusion on my face and continues. "I was pissed earlier. After I noticed that Grand Fisher was engaging in a battle, I immediately prepared to send one of my underlings, Rinker, to go and give my 'superiors' a notice of the yokai's violent activity. But after I noticed that you were involved, I revoked the the whole 'asking-for-permission' shit and dove straight into battle. And I just got really pissed off 'cause he did this ta ya."

I remembered what Shawlong had said earlier. "Now you'll receive a penalty, huh?"

"Yeah." But he shrugs indifferently. "It's all bullshit anyways. I shouldn't have ta ask for permission to kill off a yokai when it's engagin' in battle with humans or lower beings just because it's stronger than normal yokai. I should just be able ta kill the pest right away."

"Should have." I bristled.

"You're not on good terms with that bastard?" Grimmjow asked carefully.

I nodded. "He killed my mother."Grimmjow's looking at me with a solid expression. He wasn't shocked to hear this and I start to think if he had already knew about this. But I continue anyways. "I was nine at the time. Me and my mother were picking out herbs in stuff, she was showing me a bunch of new herbs I've never seen before, and she made up this game where she would name an herb and I would go find it. And somehow, we ended up deeper in the forest than we expected. So we started heading back home. That's when I saw him."

"Grand Fisher?"

I shook my head. "It was a boy. Around his teenage years I think. He was calling out to me, but my mother didn't hear him, only I did. So I started going towards him. Next thing I know, my mother's screaming and there's this giant yokai in front of me. At the time, everything seemed big to me, I was a short kid, so up until now, I didn't know Grand Fisher was actually that big. But he was."

I gave out an exhausted sigh and settled down to lay in the comfort of the pillows. But I still didn't feel as comfortable as I should be. I felt cold inside and my bones felt like they were vibrating as I recalled the dark memories of my mother death.

"Everything else was a blur. In the end, I found myself drenched in my own mothers blood, her mauled corpse in front of me, and my father chasing away the yokai that killed my mother."

There's an extremely silent pause hanging in the air before anyone else bothers to say anything.

"That was a week after the shrine god left this place." Grimmjow said as he looks up at the ceiling.

"You think the shrine god's absence was linked to my mother's death?"

"The responsibility of a shrine god is ta keep order in the area, protect those who wish ta be protected, and keep the yokais of the forest stable." He says. "Or at least, that's my job."

"So if the shrine god would have stayed, my mother wouldn't have died?"

"Ichigo..." He trailed off and doesn't bother to finish what he was about to say.

I know that I'm lingering over my mother's death too much all of a sudden, and that it's making Grimmjow uncomfortable. "I know, it's all in the path. There's nothing I can do about it know."

"You can hope that her soul is doing well." Grimmjow attempts to cheer me up, and that fact alone makes my heart flutter a bit.

"Thank you." I say. "Yeah, I hope so."

* * *

**Oh gawd, I'm done D; Finally! I'm sorry for the late update! I thought I did it, but later on I discovered that I didn't and that I only thought I did. It turns out that I had an inception moment and dreamt that I updated this story o.0 **

**Due to my suddenly busy schedule, my other story _The Songbird's Lullaby_ will be postponed and updated next week. Sadly, I don't know when next week ;_;**

**And because this is an extremely busy month for me, after I'm done updating _The Songbird's Lullaby_, I won't be able to update any of my stories for the rest of the month. If I ever have a chance though, I might just update one of my stories. Maybe. Sorry ;A; **

**I LOVE YOU ALL!**


	8. The First of the Revelations

**Warning: Long author's notes down below D;**

* * *

**VIII. The First of the Revelations**

I knew that it was going to happen soon. That my romantic relationship with thunder beast, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez would be revealed. But I didn't think it was to happen so soon. I knew that the situation was unclear to everyone, that the villagers and my friends didn't know whether Grimmjow was a yokai or not, and that if Grimmjow was a friend or foe, even after he had saved us. All they knew was that I was in some sort of relations with him, and that's not all they want to know. It was difficult dodging their questions. I wasn't prepared for them and I certainly didn't know when I would be. I haven't exactly come up with a plan on how to tell the, what to tell them, and how to describe it. And I was beyond unsure whether I should reveal that I was in an intimate relationship with Grimmjow, one that it between a man and another man and also between a higher being and a mere mortal. I know that many are against such things as that. But I can't focus on the broader aspect right now, but the more specific is what I know I should focus on. More specifically, my family, and firstly, my father.

"Ichigo." Urahara called. I turned to face him in the slightly compacted hallway where I waited to see my father. Urahara's eyes were glimmering with the curiosity, and I know he's bursting with questions. I am in the least grateful to him that he hasn't asked me any yet. "Your father is ready for your visit."

"Thank you sir." Is all I tell him before I reach out and slid the shoji open, revealing the seemingly unconscious body of my father.

He was laid flat across a futon, tucked tight under a blanket and bandages. I swallowed nervously and closed the door behind me. My father's face twitched with recognition after the click of the door resounded through out the room. I sat my self down before my father, tucking my knees under me, preparing myself to bow.

"I've heard a lot from Urahara." He says. "Of what happened to Soifon's group, of what they said to have happened after I had passed out, and what rumours that are now circling about. Rumours concerning you."

I didn't know what or how I should reply to that. So instead, I kept my mouth shut and hoped he wasn't expecting my reply.

He wasn't. So he continued. "It's history repeating itself all over again."

I was surprised to hear my father giving a hearty chuckle. His eyes were soft with an emotion I had never seen before and he closes his eyes and gives a deep sigh. "We've both been keeping secrets from each other. Mine, well, isn't exactly a secret. It was just something that if it wasn't asked, it wasn't told." Isshin looks at me expectantly. "I'll tell you mine, and you'll tell me yours. And I promise, swearing on my fatherhood, that I'll keep an open mind when I hear your story."

I nodded. "I promise you too."

"Okay." He says. "A long time ago, I was a ruthless bounty hunter. I had no morals, no sense of kindness, I was a rouge. Who ever got in my way, I eliminated them."

My jaw fell at the revelation that my father was a bounty hunter, and a ruthless one at that. I could never think of my father like that. Some one who is ridiculously silly, child-like, wimpy, and who runs away from rabid rodents was once someone so rogue and without morals.

"Your mother was the shrine's priestess of the Forest of Menosu. She was the one who saved me from my unrighteous ways and converted me into a good human being. I stopped following the path as a filthy bounty hunter and for a while, I just loitered around in the grounds of the shrine. Slowly, your mother build up my life. She cared for me when I was homeless, allowed me to stay in the shrine. And in turn I tried to help her the best I could. I cleaned the shrine, escorted and brought people who wished to give their thanks to the shrine god and others who wished to pray to him. After some time, I've developed the skills of a apothecary thanks to an old friend by the name of Kukaku Shiba, who is a travelling scholar who majors in herbalism. After developing enough of the skill, I became the one of the herbal medicine supply source of Karakura Village's medical clinics. Your mother would also join me at times."

"Father," I interrupted "I'm glad that you've decided to tell me this, but...I don't see how that's a secret."

Isshin nods understandingly. "I know, this is where I will reveal to you the secret I've been hiding from you and your sisters. From everyone in general." I start to brace myself for impact. "After you were born, a prophecy was made by the Menosu shrine god. Your death would lead to the downturn of the heavens rule and the world will be sent into a turmoil of darkness and corruption."

"My death?" I gaped.

"Yes, that's what the shrine god had believed. Your death would lead to a series of events, and in the end, the world's doom. Your life doesn't fully revolve around the prophecy, but there was a chance that it would trigger it. One the gods couldn't risk. Therefore, your mother made a deal with the current Menosu shrine god of that time, and sealed him within your body, so that if you were ever in a time of extreme danger, he would be awakened and save you."

All of what was told to me had yet to sink in. I was utterly shock. No, no words could describe what I couldn't comprehend. I just sat there, staring at my father like he had grown a third eye and sprouted snakes for hair. A shrine god. Sealed within me? A God? "What?"

"Yup." Was my father's simple affirmation.

"You mean to tell me that there's a shrine god locked inside my body?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck?" I started spazzing. "What the fucking hell?" I shot up onto my feet and started pacing. "Oh my fucking god."

"Language Ichigo." Father warned.

"Nononono! You can't try and make me believe that I have a god sealed inside me!" I spluttered out as I began to hyperventilate. "Oh gods no."

"But you do." Isshin stresses out. " Remember what happened yesterday? When you were fighting against Grand Fisher?"

"Fighting? You mean when I shot that arrow in his mouth?"

"No, before that."

"I fought him before that?" I gawked. I remembered nothing.

"Yes." Father pauses. "You don't remember, do you?"

I shook my head wildly. "No. No I don't." I settled back down onto the ground and curled my arms around my legs. "I remembered vomiting because of the overwhelming fear I experienced from seeing Grand Fisher, and I black out. I was so scared when I black out. I thought that I had to wake up, I had to come back, before Grand Fisher would take you away like he took away mother. And that's when I woke up, finding you unconscious and everyone badly wounded."

"I see." Isshin closed his eyes and the bandages in his face started to crinkle as he began to concentrate on something. "His name is Shirosaki Hichigo."

"Shirosaki Hichigo?" I echoed.

"Yes, that's the name of the shrine god who is sealed within you. I've never personally met him before. Your mother was the only mortal to have had communicated with him, her being the priestess to his shrine. I guess it was because he was so strong and more to himself. During that fight, I didn't know what was happening and I didn't know it was him who took over your body."

I gave it some thought to what he had told me and asked, "So you're saying that after I blacked out, this Shirosaki ex-shrine god took over my body, and started fighting Grand Fisher?"

"Yes."

"That's the total opposite of protecting me." I snorted. "If he had the intention of protecting me, he would have grab you guys and run."

"Ichigo, it's not possible for one man to carry a group of ten." Isshin frowns.

"Yeah, okay, I understand that. But he should have at least done something other than initiate in combat with that yokai. For the love of the gods, he had done more bad than good to my body." I shifted my casted left arm and gestured to the bandage calf. "This wasn't protecting."

"I'm sure he had no other choice. Grand Fisher was a very evasive yokai, and those fireballs were really troublesome." Isshin defended.

I didn't know why my father was defending that Shirosaki guy. But I chose to say nothing more, and to be honest, I do believe that Shirosaki had the intentions of protecting me. He was just missing a plan on how to do so.

"Guess it's your turn now, Ichigo."

I suddenly started to feel rather shy and reluctant. I didn't want to tell my dad yet. And how much of my secret should I reveal to him? The whole, or half of it? Should I leave out the romance between me and Grimmjow? But then again, that's practically the whole story. I can't just lie to him and say that Grimmjow and I are just friends. It doesn't sound very believable to me.

"Ichigo." Isshin called sternly.

I sighed and ruffled my hair. I'll just get it over with. Tell everything, every little detail. Well, not exactly every single one.

"How much of things do you know?" I asked.

"Just that you were arguing with a yokai, appearing as if you two were on good terms with each other."

I scoffed. It sound ironic how he described it. From there, I explained everything slowly. Firstly, his name and then the fact that he wasn't a yokai, but a thunder beast. I explained to him about Grimmjow's situation as an ex-raiju and the Menosu Forest's current shrine god. And lastly to how we met. That 's when I started to withdraw and became a stuttering mess. But before I could even utter the scene after Grimmjow had scared Kenpachi's group away, Isshin put the pieces all together.

"Oh Heavens." Isshin gawked. "It's him? The one who gave you that love-bite?"

My ears began to feel hot as I knew my face turned a vibrant pink. How did he figure it out so fast? "Y-Yes."

Isshin gives me a sceptical look before it's replace by realization, and then stupefaction. "**EH!**" He squeaks very loudly.

I flinched at his outburst and it's his turn to freak-out.

"You, my one and only son, is having-" He begins to stutter. "ha-having relations with an ex-raiju?"

"Hey, relax dad."

"Relax?" He giggles hysterically. "You're going out with a being of the heavens, a thunder beast, an ex-raiju!" His hysterics goes on for about five minutes until he's heavily panting and his bandages are damp from his sweat.

After he was done venting, he closes his eyes, and appears to be deep in thought again. "He cares about you, right?"

I am slightly uneased by Isshin's speedy recovery from earlier and by how calm he currently seemed. Just a few minutes ago, he was going catatonic. But I answer his question, never the less.

"He has told me before, so yes." Well, he didn't put it in exact words, but Grimmjow has implied it multiple times.

"And do you...like him back?"

"Yes." I answered immediately.

Father sighs and open his eyes to look up at the ceiling. "Very well then, I expect to meet this Grimmjow."

"What?" I faltered.

"I'm expecting to meet him." He repeats and then looks at me. "What? You expect me to just say 'Yes Ichigo, you have my consent to marry this man'?"

"What?" I almost screeched in horror. "Why are you talking about marriage all of a sudden? What the hell is wrong with you old-goat?"

"Don't think that I don't know how you youngsters think. So impulsive and sudden." Isshin scoffs. "Just because he may be older than you in our years, doesn't mean he has the wisdom of someone like me."

I rubbed my face in embarrassment and silently pleaded for him to just stop talking any further. But then I paused, realizing what this all means. "So...you don't care that me and Grimmjow umm...like each other even though we're both men?"

"Why should I care about that?" Isshin frowns. "You like him, don't you? If anything, I have a problem with the whole thunder beast issue. How in the hell will that work out? Can he even do it properly with that whole lightning power thingy?"

"Oh gods dad, just please stop talking."

Isshin laughs at me while I hide my face within the comfort of my arms and knees.

"If you're worried about passing down our family name, it's alright! Surely Karin can convince her future husband to take our name instead."

Oh yes, I indeed believe that Karin would do that. Being someone with a level of stubbornness to her calibre, she can definitely make that possible. I made up my mind to tell my little sisters about Grimmjow as well, although I was sure Karin had a little hint about him. I was unsure about revealing my story to everyone else though. The only people I could probably trust was Orihime and Yoruichi-san. Everyone else, I was rather unsure about. But I was sure that I will tell everyone that I am somehow involve with Grimmjow, because that was what everyone was most likely thinking. After visiting my father, I started the herbal shipping and successfully dodging the bombardments of questions that I received from villagers and friends alike. Even Tatsuki attempted to bribe me and used every trick up her sleeve to try and have me tell her. But unfortunate for her, no luck.

Possibly, the one person in the entire village who probably didn't care for my business was Ryuken Ishida. And honestly, it unsettled me. I was so prepared to even have him to attempt getting me to say something about Grimmjow. So much, that every time he open his mouth to speak I would automatically tense up.

"Kurosaki-kun." Ryuken called out, his voice solid and ice-cold. "What is wrong with you? Why in the world do you keep flinching?"

"I'm deeply sorry." I apologized. "It's just that I'm a bit nervous."

"And why would you be?" Ryuken asks.

I shrugged. "I was just expecting you to, you know, try and somehow persuade me to tell you what exactly happened in the Menosu Forest."

Ryuken scoffs harshly. "Why would I ever be interested in your business Kurosaki-kun?" Even with the use of honorifics, his tone sounds harsh and cold-blooded. "What ever you do, and who ever is your friend is none of my concern. My only concern dealing with you is when exactly is the arrival my next supply of the medicines I ordered and the quality of them. Do you understand?"

I bit my tongue and held back a couple of snide comments. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Good." Ryuken says and continues on with the subject of his next set of supplies.

At least I know where Uryu got his stuck-up personality from.

After finishing reviewing the orders with Ryuken, I checked my notes of all the request that I had jotted down in the worn out notebook that my family used to help keep track of our business. Ryuken had left the room soon after he had stated that he was done for today, and that once I was done that I should leave at once. Asshole. But it didn't take me long to finish with my remaining work. By the time four minutes had passed, I was already wrapping things up, ready to leave the Ishida Clinic.

Just then, there was a sound of disturbance in the distance. I paused, placing my ink brush down on the brush stand. Following the ruckus was a faint moan, and more rattling around. I stood up and opened the shoji door, and listened more for the noise. It was coming from the third door down the hall. The noise puzzled me, and what puzzled me more was what or who was making it. It couldn't be a patient considering this was where the residents stayed, patients were kept in a different wing of the clinic.

"Stop!" A gruff voice echoed down the hall.

I almost jumped at the noise. But I regained my composure and my body's movements became automatic and my mind had the intentions of stopping whatever pandemonium was happening down the corridor.

"Shit, seriously, stop it!" The voice was hoarse and deep, yet it was also unstable.

When I arrived in front of the door, the sounds became more clearer and I could also distinguish the sounds of clothes rustling. A small moan was all it took for me to slam the shoji door open. Oh how I regretted that.

"K-Kurosaki!" Uryu squeaked, literally.

Uryu was completely naked, his face bright pink, as he hovered over the bare chested Chad- who was just a astonished as the rest of us was. Wait...Uryu. Naked. Blushing and hovering over Chad. Oh Gods.

"Th-This isn't what it looks like!" Uryu stuttered as Chad shrugged off a layer of his kimono to cover Uruyu's nakedness.

Chad sighs. "Uryu, we both know it's useless to hide this." Chad looks at me. "Me and Uryu are lovers."

I stood at doorway, still as a statue, as my mouth gaped open like a dead fish. I don't know how long it was like that, but through the awkwardness of the situation between us, Chad and Uryu somehow brought me back down to earth. As soon as that happened, I demanded explanations to how I had not known this sooner and if anyone else knew about their relationship. It was a bit expected when Uryu said that they had kept their relationship a secret, I wouldn't blame them. This actually explains a lot of things, like why Uryu is almost always tagging along with Chad, and why Chad was most of the time an exception to Uryu's stinginess and stuck-up personality.

"So now that you know everything, you promise not to tell anyone?" Chad asked.

I almost scoffed. "Of course I won't tell anyone."

"Eh?" Uryu seemed unnecessarily surprised. "You won't?"

"Why would I?" I frowned at Uryu's reaction. "Just because you like to gossip and tell everyone my business, doesn't mean I would do the same thing to you. Even if it is payback, I'm not like that. And if anything, I'm doing this more for Chad than I am for you. He is one of my closest friends after all."

"Thank you Ichigo." Chad smiled.

"You're welcome." I said. "Now I have a favour to ask you."

Chad cocked his head. "Okay, go ahead. I owe you that much."

"How do you" I scratched my head as the heat was making everything rather uncomfortable. "-How do men do it?"

"_Do it?_" The two couples before me asked simultaneously.

"You know..." I cleared my throat.

Chad raised his hand as a gesture for me to stop as he tried to hide the humoured snicker on his face. "You mean how do men fuck?"

I covered my face. "Don't say it like that man!"

Even though I couldn't see them, I could hear them attempting to hold back an outburst of laughter, and only failing to muffle the slipping giggles. I groaned.

"Sorry Ichigo-kun." Uryu chuckled. " But what do you want us to call it?Sex? Making love? Sexual intercourse?"

"Uryu, for once in your life, shut your mouth."

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**What's this? Ichigo is asking for advice on sex? Well, we all know what that means! Smut is coming! :3 **

**ChadxUryu = my worst crack pairing ever. I'm sorry for those of you out there who ship them, but it's just so...odd.**

**I took forever finishing this because I am the worst procrastinator that has ever existed.**

**While I reviewed over the earlier chapters of _Thunder Blue_, I realized how many errors I made and cringed at the fact the I got Shiro's name _horribly wrong_. I also noticed how fluffy this fic was xD Anyways, I'll be correcting the errors I made. So if you guys notice something off with the story, don't worry, it's just me attempting to correct my mistakes. Next chapter will come Wednesday this week.**

**Little note - List of Forest of Menosu Shrine Gods:**

**1st: Shirosaki**

**2nd: Not mentioned (But I'm pretty sure most of you have a pretty good idea of who it is)**

**3rd: Grimmjow (current)**

**Review please, or let me know of any mistakes :3**


	9. The Second of the Revelations

**IX. The Second of the Revelations**

(Third Point of View-Unknown Area)

"Master." Grand Fisher wheezed out, blood slowly seeping from his half-dead body as he left a trail of the black fluids behind him.

He forced his body to move further forward, but his legs were ready to fail him and his body was drained after that battle. Grand Fisher was oblivious to where he was heading, but since he was teleported here by an unknown force, he automatically assumed that he was brought here by his master.

"Oh!" A voice chimed. "He's still alive!"

Grand Fisher cringed at the voice. It was so familiar, one that he hated and fear so much. Maybe even more than that beast Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. The voice echoes around him, curling around his mind and probing his ears. Grand Fisher shrank himself, cowardly curling his body up defensively.

"Tch, he got damaged bad though." Another voice joined the previous one. One more rough yet childish. "Think it's still good?"

Grand Fisher started to panic. Was this an ambush? Do they now plan to rid of him now that he was of no use to them? He shifted around, searching the misted darkness of the night. But he saw nothing. He was blind, his eye sockets were empty for that dastardly thunder beast had gouged his eyes out. And even with his regeneration capabilities, his eyes were never able to regenerate. In the distance, a scoff echoed around the yokai.

"I hope so." The other one sighed. "If it were lost, Master would be mad."

"M-Master?" Grand Fisher cringed again when he felt immense pressure press down on his body.

The air felt heavier, breathing became difficult, and the wounds that once before closed were reopening. Grand Fisher whimpered.

"Silence you worthless maggot." 1st voice ordered. "A pathetic creature such as yourself gives shame to beings of darkness with higher calibre. Thank your luck that you were able to survive."

The second voice let out a chortle. "Some luck, Master had only pitied the vile thing and brought him back here. He also didn't want to risk ruining his progress."

"And to think we had to accompany this thing upon attacking those humans during the first stages of the experiment."

The 2nd voice scoffed. "I was just surprise that the Master had actually let this yokai go off alone this time. I thought that Master would never do such a thing as to risk the progress of his plan and trust a weakling such as that."

"Careful of what you say, Ggio-kun." A third voice joined the darkness.

"Fuck off Rudbornn, your presence is unnecessary here." Ggio snapped.

"Under the orders of our Master, I am to supervise your actions and restrain you if you were ever to resort to violent and needless acts." Rudbornn explained. "The same for you, Luppi-kun."

"Cut the crap Rudbornn and just shut it." Luppi snapped. "We know better than to risk the result of the experiment, even with that _thing_ involve." It was obvious that Luppi was implying Grand Fisher as the _thing._

Grand Fisher's body began to shake violently under the suffocating pressure from their presence. His anxieties heightened and he wondered how many of them would come? Were they planning of actually killing him? If not, what exactly were their plans? He knew he was unable to flee in this state. And either way, attempting such a thing was utterly useless considering beings of such overwhelming aura seemed to surround him in a way where he could not determine their positions. He was blind to them, weak, and frightened. And just at that moment, all pressure was lifted. Air was brought back to his lungs and his shaking had taken a halt. Shortly, Grand Fisher panicked even more, wondering if they had given him a moment of comfort just to let him off guard and take his moment's weakness as a chance to go in for the kill. But no, they did not need to do that. They could kill him just as well in his previous state, or any other in fact.

"Oh my children, you all make me sound so cold."

"My Lord!" Ggio's and Luppi's voices were filled with surprise and embarrassment, and if he could, Grand Fisher would have laughed.

"P-Please, forgive my foolishness and impulsive mind." Luppi stuttered

"For now." Was all the reply Luppi had received. "I see my child has survived." A silky voice reached Grand Fisher, calming him immediately.

Dark wisps of miasma and flaky gray dust swirled around the air and started to concentrate in the area in front of Grand Fisher. As the miasma wavered about and a figure began to materialize in the haze. At once, Grand Fisher bowed his head in the presence of his master and a mirthful chuckle responded to his act.

"Aizen-sama!" Luppi gasped. "You shouldn't have to present yourself before this useless scum! He is not worthy-"

"It is not your place to tell Aizen-sama what he should and should not do, Luppi-kun." Rudbornn warned.

"Shut up you incompetent fuc-" Luppi immediately stopped himself from finishing his sentence.

"As Rudbornn-kun had said before, careful of what you say, Luppi-kun." Aizen's voice was voided of any emotion.

It was long before the other was able to reply. "Yes, Aizen-sama."

But the lord paid no mind to him and instead focused his attention to the yokai in front of him. "Have you succeeded?"

Grand Fisher nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yes my lord! The flames are complete!"

"I see, excellent my child."

"But I've also discovered something upon my mission." Grand Fisher says quickly. "Shirosaki-donno is still alive!"

Aizen narrowed his eyes slightly, but kept the smile plaster upon his face. "I see you still continue to use honorifics upon the mentioning of Shirosaki-kun. How honourable, you must have a lot of respect towards him." Grand Fisher said nothing. "Though, is what you said true?"

"Yes, I am sure that he still lives. He has taken possession of a mortal's body."

"He has?" Aizen seemed surprised by this, but it was only brief, and he let out a chuckle of delight.

"I guess you kind of are a bit useful." Ggio snorted.

"Who cares about that ex-shrine god. It's his own damn fault if he took possession of a mortal's body." The Luppi snapped childishly.

"Well, the information that you have generously provided me was quiet useful my child. But onto much more important matters of our current situation, we shall focus on the flames." Aizen said.

"O-Of course Master!" Grand Fisher tries to straighten his spine to face Aizen properly, but just as he had done that, Aizen plunged his hand right through the thick skull of Grand Fisher's head.

Grand Fisher was frozen in place, his jaws barely moving as the word 'Master' failed to form from his mouth. Black blood gushed from the center of Grand Fisher's forehead, spurting into the the air as the miasma surrounding Aizen consumed the dark liquids, not a single drop landing on Aizen's pristine kimono. Aizen withdrew his arm that was elbow deep in the head of the now dying yokai, the arm spotless and maintained it's clean appearance. From Grand Fisher's head, he drew out a small orb, fitting in his slim palm, and glowing an ominous lavender hue. Right after retrieving the mysterious object, Grand Fisher's body collapsed into an useless corpse, in the process of being consumed by Aizen's miasma.

"As he had said, the flames are indeed ready my children." Aizen raises the orb higher. "Grand Fisher has done well as his role for the vessel of Hōgyoku's development for the flames."

"Is it enough?" Luppi asked carefully.

"Of course it is enough." Rudbornn commented. "Aizen-sama would never settle for less."

A wicked laugh echoed the hallow grounds of the unknown forest. "I guess that feebleminded ex-Raiju won't be the only possessor of the destruction of the legendary Raiju flames then."

"Then that's six abilities down, four more to go." Ggio

A cold smile curled upon Aizen's already smiling lips. "How about we do a little test run?"

"Another?" Rudbornn asked uncertainly.

"Yes." Aizen replied. "Let's think of it as entertainment. I believe that I want to see if what Grand Fisher has informed me is true or not for myself. Please make sure to inform all your brothers and sisters once I give you the details, Rudbornn."

"And the human?" Luppi asked excitedly. "Hisagi, his name..."

"I have an idea of what we should do with him." Aizen smirked.

* * *

**Well, I saw no point in beating around the bush when most of you could easily guess who the bad guys are, so I thought I might as well reveal some of them. My beta guess it good, right off the bat, and gave me reasons why she could easily tell who it was xD And I really hate beating around the bush when things are really obvious, it's not me.**

**I like making Aizen the bad-guy...sometimes :3**

**Uh-oh, looks like Grimmjow and Ichigo are gonna get some challenges! .**

**And what's going to happen to Hisagi? Whups, guess that's for me to know, and all of you to later on find out. Eh? You guys were expecting smut in this chapter? I guess you guys have to wait for that too in the next chapter~**

**Trololololo~**

**(I'm sorry . please review lol I promise to give you guys what you want)**


	10. Back: Xcution

**Author's Notes: No smut, but I finally updated xD**

* * *

**X .cution**

I made the wrong decision coming to Orihime's teashop. One, Tatsuki hasn't let up on asking me about the rumours that are spreading around about me. And two, Orihime is trying out a new menu, again. Currently, I'm contemplating whether I should try her new peach potato buns or garlic buns stuffed with ginger bits and custard cream since in comparison to the rest of her menu, seem the most edible.

"You know," Tatsuki started "if you let me in on your little secret with that yokai rumour that has been going around a lot lately, I could give you a free taste test for the whole menu."

I gave her a sour expression, but she still looks as if she wouldn't even dare to give up on me.

"Tatsuki-san!" Orihime gasped. "Please don't bribe Ichigo-kun like that! I invited him to test my new menu for free, so don't try to place a price on the offer I gave him last minute!"

"Tch, but a whole menu? It's a waste of the ingredients I bought. If he wants to try the _whole_ menu, he should at least give back a little." Tatsuki crossed her arms, pouting as Orihime place the hot cup of white-leaf tea on my table.

"It's not a waste!" Orihime practically squeaked in a weak attempt to raise her voice further. "I've given him the offer to try my menu _free _and that's it!"

Tatsuki rolled her head, obviously displeased with how things turned up. "Ugh, fine." She then stood up and made her way to the back of the teashop. "If you want me, I'll be peeling the radishes in the kitchen."

Orihime let out a exasperated huff and lowered herself to sit next to me with both her arms and legs crossed.

"Trouble?" I asked although it was clear that she was annoyed.

"Sadly." Orihime answered. "I think it's because Uruyu-kun keeps coming over to gossip, he's gotten Tatsuki-san to take an interest in Uruyu's world of scandalous rumours. Not that I blame Uruyu for all the troubles but..." She trailed off.

Apparently, Orihime doesn't know how to finish off with what she had said, so instead she leaves what she said unfinished. I didn't mind it much, and I understood her situation well, so I let Orihime be. But of course, Orihime didn't allow the pause between us to last.

"So, when are you planning to announce your situation with a thunder beast to everyone else?" Orihime asks carefully.

Although Orihime had brought this subject up in a hushed tone, I was still stunned, and almost choked on my tea. It was still new to me that Orihime knew about my 'secret' while everyone else was still left out and I had forgotten how Orihime could be a bit blunt without her noticing it herself. So far, after my father, I was only able to tell Orihime (she fainted twice) and after revealing everything to her, I had changed my mind about telling Yoruichi after I had seen how Orihime reacted. Yoruichi would probably kill me for being "stupid" and "impulsive" rather than do anything else.

After clearing my throat, I placed my cup down on the table and sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. How could I tell everyone that? They would probably exile me or send a mob for me and my family. I just can't do that. And what I fear most is that I know I won't be able to hide it forever."

"How about you just refrain from doing anything to extravagant? Like participating in those hunting parties you were in last time." Orihime offered.

I chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, that's one way to avoid exposure." I really don't know what came over me when I had decided to volunteer myself.

"But you really seem to like this guy." Orihime comments. "I mean, you like asked Uryu-kun for advice after all. So that must mean your serious."

"Yeah- what?" I'm glad that I had earlier decided to put down my tea. If I was still drinking it, I probably would have choked to death, or spilled the cup. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Uruyu-kun told me that you asked him advice for um...sex." Orihime's whole face went red and she hid her face in the concealment of her arms. "Oh why did I bring this up?"

I gritted my teeth. "What else did he tell you?"

Orihime jumped in to a defensive state once she noticed my tone. "Don't worry! He didn't give out any specific information. Uryu-kun just said that you asked for information on, well, activities. Nothing else that would give away your secret or that you're with a man!" Orihime whispered hastily.

I should be relieved to hear that Uryu didn't tell anyone too much of my secret. Although he doesn't know much ( like the fact that my lover is not only a man, but a shrine god) Uryu knew enough to have the village turn their backs on me and probably ruin my family's business. So after hearing that Uryu made a 'little' slip doesn't only piss me off, but it also makes me feel a bit betrayed. Even after I promised the snivelling shit head that I wouldn't tell anyone his relationship with Chad. _As if I would_. Chad is my closest friend in the village, and so I try to remind myself that I made the promise to Chad, my best friend. Not that loose lipped Uryu.

I sighed. "Seriously, what's wrong with that guy though? Can't he at least have a bit of gratitude for me and keep important things to himself."

"Well, he did put up a good show of restraint. He had this face where it looked like he was just bursting to tell Tatsuki-san."

I groaned. Yup. It won't be long before I have to tell everyone. Or that everyone would find out by themselves. _Why did I have to live in a village like this?_

"Kurosaki Ichigo?" My name was called out in the small teashop by a familiar blonde in clothes that only an officer would wear. No, it wasn't Shinji.

It was another officer who refers himself to the name Rozu, which might be a nickname he picked up. He was an officer of low ranks who would usually do office work since he seemed like the kind of man who doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Or to put it more correctly, his hair. It didn't take long for him to find me without me having to reply and confirm myself. By now, its definite that he knows me just like the rest of the villagers. Especially when there was so few people with hair as brightly orange as mine. Its kind of hard to forget those kind of things.

"You are needed at the Karakura Village's police station. We are in need of some vital information that you possess."

I rolled my eyes. "Again?"

The last time I remember holding 'vital information' that sad excuse for a captain Shinji screamed at me for spouting out what he thought was lies. Though I'd like to see what would happen this time I was very reluctant to give them the information that they will most likely doubt.

"What do you need me for though? I know that you said I know some important things, but I don't think they're the things your captain would like to hear."

"Doesn't matter. It's not my captain that is in need of the information. It's the Xcution."

"Xcution?" I arched a brow.

"_Xcution!?_" Tatsuki basically shrieked from the back kitchen. She stumbled through the kitchen opening with a half peeled radish in her right hand and a knife in the other.

"Oh, you know of them?" Rozu hums nonchalantly.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I know them! Who the hell wouldn't?" I would be one of those people, but of course Tatsuki doesn't know that. "They're a group of professional and talented exorcists, with otherworldly skills only comparable to the gods. The Xcution are practically celebrities of Japan!"

"Pfft, sounds like just another scam of exorcists to me." I muttered quietly, hoping that Tatsuki was too way into her fangirling to hear me.

Lucky me, she didn't hear me and only continued with her rants.

"And even if you have never heard of them before, anyone of Karakura would have at least heard of their name before considering they have been the talk of the town for at least a week!"

Again, I would be one of those she's not talking about, since not once have I heard of this group of exorcists until now.

Rozu sighed. "When I asked earlier if you 'know of them' I meant to say it as a rhetorical question." Tatsuki give the wavy blonde a glare, but doesn't notice it and keeps his attention towards me. "It was the Xcution who requested you, not captain Shinji. If you need explanation, I won't be able to offer you the answers you need. But instead, you may ask vice captain Kensei, since he is most likely to provide you the answers you need."

Kensei I could handle. He seemed more open minded towards these kind of things.

"Okay." I agreed smoothly.

It was a bit of a win-win for me, since I at least want to see what was so special about this Xcution group. I mean, other than the fact that they're idolized like gods. And I didn't really want to give Orihime's new menu a taste test. Really, there's nothing about pickled radish stuffed creme custard buns that sounds tasty or anything near edible. After exiting the shop, Rozu escorted me all the way toward the station and after entering the wooden building, Rozu retreated to his place behind a short desk and gestured me to go ahead further. _Further where_ was my question.

"Yo kid." A familiar voice called.

I turned my head to my side in the direction the voice was coming from. Down the hallway there, Kensei's head was peeking out of a doorway, waving his hand in a gesture for me to go towards him. I hurried his way as questions were already spilling out of my mouth.

"Why do you need me to tell you my story again? I thought I already told you everything I knew when questioned me on the day of my father's hospitalization." I said in a tone that was bordering annoyance.

"I know, but the Xcution needs to hear your story from your mouth. I can't give them the clear details since it's not my story and nor did I experience it."

"But why me? There's others who were there too. Soifon, Kira, my father-"

"Soifon and Kira, and the group accompanying them are yakuzas. It's not ideal for us to ask them since the information they will give us will be thought of as unreliable. Your father seems unstable due to his current condition, and we're not sure if his condition is affecting his mentality. So that leaves you."

"Wonderful." I rolled my eyes.

"They're in this room right now. Just answer whatever questions they give you and you'll be outta here before you know it, 'kay kid?" Kensei advised in a hushed voice.

I nodded. "And I'm not a kid."

"Whatever Ichi boy." Kensei opened the shouji door further so I could enter the room.

Seven pairs of eyes immediately fell upon me. I tried not to fidget under the overwhelming attention and observant gazes of the Xcution, but instead, I tried to return their perceptive gazes with my own, taking in the major details of their appearances. Upon first look, they all varied in ages, even race it seemed. What surprised me the most was that there was a child among them, he was probably 9 or so. Although it wasn't really too much of a surprise, there were also two members that appeared to be the same age as me.

"Nice to meet you, Kurosaki-kun." One of the men of that group greeted with a bright smile.

"Likewise." I replied steadily.

"Shall we go through some introductions?" Kensei offered.

The man who previously greeted me nodded. "It's obvious we all know who you are, Kurosaki-kun. So allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Kugo Ginjo, a simple monk."

I was a bit sceptical when he labeled himself to be a simple monk when he wore the armour of a samurai. Ginjo also had a slight muscular build, something monks who specialize in exorcism wouldn't have. But then again, he could be a monk who specializes in various things. Those exist, I think.

Ginjo the raised his hand to the next member to his right onto a man in clothings of solid grey and black. From the designs of the robe and tunic, I could guess that he was a shinto priest, without the head cap. There was nothing prominent about this man, except that he kept his wavy shoulder-length black hair untied, he had a long scar above his left eye, and sported a blade strapped behind his back. Shinto priest don't carry weapons, and even if they did, they sure don't display them like that.

"Shukuro Tsukishima." And he left his introduction like that with a simple bow of his head and a smile. He didn't even name his role as the member of the Xcution.

"Riruka Dokugamine! Wicca of the West!" A young woman announced boldly.

Her style of clothes was odd, one that I have only seen once before and it was from a newspaper that was brought over by Chad from the neighbouring town. It was a style called Victorian, that's what Chad had called it. Though, Riruka's clothes were all black, contrasting her magenta hair and less puffy than the clothes I had seen in the picture of the newspaper. I wondered what exactly her role in the Xcution was if she wore such heavy looking clothing. It must be difficult to run it that outfit, much less walk in it under the hot sun in the afternoons of the summer.

"Wicca?" I whispered to Kensei, perplexed.

"A witch. I think its what those of the west call witches." Kensei replied.

"Hey, shut it you police wanna-be. The correct term is wicca not witch." Riruka snapped at him.

Kensei eyes widened slightly at Riruka's little outburst, but then they narrowed as he raised an accusing finger in her direction. "Watch it little girl, just because I requested you and your group's help doesn't mean you can spout shit like that at me."

"How about I revoke your shitty request of-"

"Riruka, you have no authority to refuse an accepted requested." Ginjo gave her a warning glare and sighed when Riruka replied to it with an outstretched tongue. "I apologize, it's been a long trip. We thought to get the interview over with before resting at a hotel, my mistake." He bowed his head slightly. "Shall we continue?"

"Uh, yeah." I answered.

Next was the boy, he wore simple European clothes; collared shirt over a pair of trousers and a suede jacket. These were clothes I was more familiar with since Chad had many of these when he was younger because he was originally a foreigner. There was nothing odd about this kid, and compared to the rest of his group, he seemed the most normal one there. The boy kept a calm and quiet demeanour as he stared back at me.

"Yukio Hans Vorarlberna. Novice and the apprentice of Father Kutsuzawa Giriko." Yukio bowed.

"And I am Father Kutsuzawa. Wonderful to meet you Mister Kurosaki." Giriko, the man in a black robe and clerical collar bowed.

Giriko appeared to be a very respectful man, maybe somewhere around the same age as my father. Strangely, Giriko had an eye patch that concealed his right eye.

"Jackie Tristan." The next member, a woman, raised her hands and clasp them together as she bowed her head. She wore multiple clay beads over her shoulders and around her neck, and her clothes were vibrant and with many layers of fabrics and feathers with beads tied to her hair. _She must be sweating under there. _" I am a shaman. And this here," Jackie guides one of her hands to the young man next to her. "is our follower."

"I'm not a follower! I'm Tsukishima-sama's apprentice!" The male practically shrieked.

"Allow me to correct myself. Tsukishima-san's follower. His name is Moe." Jackie explained.

"Oi, hag! I can introduce myself, I ain't fuckin' useless." Moe quickly switches his eyes over to me. "The last name's Shishigawara!"

_Hell, no need to holler at me._ At first glance he could be mistaken to be a part of a yakuza group like Kensei. Moe looked to be around the same age as me like Riruka, but he was shorter. Even as we are all sitting down I could see that.

Ginjo gave out a worn-out sigh. "Before we break out into a quarrel like multiple times earlier, I'd like to ask if you are aware of the reason why we have requested to talk to you, Kurosaki-kun."

"Yes, you want to ask me about my experiences with encountering a yokai."

"Yes. So if you can, will you give us the descriptive details of what happen? And please, every detail counts."

I crossed my arms. "Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to give you a _full_ detail. In the middle of the event, I passed out but gained consciousness later on."

"It doesn't matter." Jackie said. "Tell us all you remember."

"Okay." I said.

And so I did. I told them every part of the event. I told them why I bothered to volunteered myself, how my father insisted to follow along, why we were venturing through the forest to look for Hisagi (who is sadly still missing to this day), and our group's encounter with the yokai, Grand Fisher. After the Xcution had ask me about my connections to Grand Fisher and why I had known it, I told them that he was an enemy of mine and that he killed my mother. They apologized and I continued with my story. I gave them the detail of Grand Fisher's attack on my group, before and after I fainted, until I came upon the section of the story where Grimmjow comes in.

That part, will be the most difficult to explain. What the hell will I tell these people?

"This, Grimmjow, is he also a yokai?" Ginjo asked.

I shook my head. "He is a shrine god."

Tsukishima visibly tensed up and his eyes widened. "What is your relationship with this shrine god?" He asked precipitously.

His reaction surprised me and I wondered if I should be extremely careful if I should say he was either a friend or an acquaintance that I have encountered in the past. At least the latter was half true.

"He is a friend." I lied.

Tsukishima gives me a doubtful expression but he doesn't press. But it seems the Tsukishima is not the only one doubting me.

"You're friends with a shrine god?" Ginjo asks a bit sarcastically.

I don't know whether I should answer or reply to him so instead I give him a plain nod. He snorts.

"I'm sorry but I find that somehow hard to believe." Ginjo said. "Supernatural beings are different from humans, emotionally and physically. They live much longer than humans, therefore the way they think and feel are different. They are careful for who they share bonds with and always seek long-term relationships. With humans, they can't find that for our lives are too short and fragile in comparison to them. But there is an exception to love relationships. Because it's those kind of relationships that sends a supernatural being to do anything and risk everything to extend the human's life expectancy. Not friendship."

Did he see right through me? Does he know? How could he? I mean, he's not like my father, this Ginjo guy didn't witness the evidence of me and Grimmjow's relationship (the love bite). And what the hell is he talking about? Was he trying to say that romance and friendship were on entirely two different levels? That a god wouldn't try to preserve a mortal's life and extending it just because they're only friends, not lovers? What about best friends?

My mind was going haywire over what he said. But I'm no expert on the psychology of supernatural beings, so I can't argue with him, an exorcist who likely has more experience in that criteria. I started to gnaw at the inside of my cheek as I tried to make up an excuse to give to Ginjo.

"I didn't ask you to believe me. You said it doesn't matter." I said.

"Yes, I did say that," Jackie intercepted the conversation "but I meant that for what you don't remember. I didn't mean for you to give us unclear information on the relationship between you and this Shrine god, Grimmjow."

"And I don't see how that's important." I replied back, struggling to keep my voice from giving the wrong impression.

But I feel as if I'm already giving myself away and that I'm becoming more suspicious to them, including Kensei.

Shit.

"Well apparently it is important, Kurosaki-kun." Ginjo scorned. His patience was visibly diminishing. "Your relationship with this shrine god can determine the safety of this village. We need to know what terms are you on with this being, may it be bad or good."

"I'm on good terms." I said. "That's all you need to know."

"Damn, are you stupid or do you just have shit in your ears? Did you not hear what he said?" Riruka snapped.

"Riruka. Ginjo." Upon Tsukishima calling out their names in a warning tone, the two only eased from their tense expressions slightly. Tsukishima kept his eyes on me, wary.

Giriko cleared his throat. "Well, this is certainly not how I expected this conversation to go."

Though his tone was light, it didn't help the atmosphere one bit.

"May I remind you that this isn't just a conversation, Giriko. We are investigating the recent events of the incidents in Karakura village and the Forest of Menosu and retrieving information from Kurosaki Ichigo." Ginjo explained, but I felt as if I was the person he was informing, not Giriko.

I narrowed my eyes. "Revealing your intentions now are you?"

"I'm explaining our purpose here, which isn't too much of a secret, is it?" Ginjo leered.

Fuck, what was this bastard implying? This must means that he already knows that I'm hiding something.

Jackie released an irritated groan. "That's it. I'm sick and tired of how long this is dragging out! So I'll just get to the point since these bumbling fools don't know how to deal with these kind of situations well enough." Jackie lifted her hand and pointed a finger adorn with woven and wooden rings at me. "We received rumours and information that you are in a 'companionship' with a supernatural being. Call it whatever you want, but your relationship status with this being isn't much of an importance, just whether or not you are in good terms with it. Now that we have confirmed the information and the fact that you are indeed in good terms with this shrine god, we have one more request for you."

"Another one?" My shoulders slumped.

"Yes." Jackie lowered her hand. "And I apologize if it is a bother, but at least, hear me out."

Well, she is being nice about it. "Okay."

Jackie breathed out, relieved at my answer. "We ask that you help us. We are unsure of the situation in the Forest of Menosu, and we lack experience with it. But we believe that if you help us, we may be able to purify the forest."

"How so?"

"With your connections to the shrine god." Tsukishima answered.

I frowned upon hearing his answer. That was a huge risk, one I couldn't take. I already know that I won't be able to help them for multiple reasons. Because I'll most likely risk my life again in the process of helping them ( and that apparently won't make anyone happy). Because I'll risk the exposure of me and Grimmjow's romantic relationship. And because I highly doubt that Grimmjow will ever let me do something like this, again. I don't think I will be able to even help them contact Grimmjow since he might not like that either. Damnit.

I scuffled my hair. "I'm sorry, but can I have some time to think about this?"

The Xcution exchanged looks and gestures and turned to me again.

"You may." Ginjo said.

"Okay, thanks." With that, I bowed and exited the station immediately.

Damn, I really need a break from reality.

* * *

**Holy crap, I'm back. Lol. Anyways, as you all may now know, I'm off hiatus! * Party party party* Thank you all for your patience! Those who _favorited_, or added this story to their alerts; thank you too. Oh! And to you reviewers out there- _Thank you so much!_ You guys have no idea how much your reviews and your support had helped me. When I was either stuck in writer's block or when I felt doubtful about the story, the reviews you guys left would always brighten me right up. So yeah, your reviews really do mean a lot to me. Especially as of late. **

**And don't worry, I'm doing a lot better now. Btw; How was your Halloween you guys? :3 Review and tell me! (Also let me know of any mistakes)**

**-smut will be in next chapter. **


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